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Articles
Jitish Kallat/Public Notice 2/2007/4,479 fibreglass sculptures/dimensions variable
‘The Empire Strikes Back’ and Jitish Kallat in London
The Saatchi Gallery, London is presenting ‘The Empire Strikes Back: Indian Art Today,’ an impressive show of works from 26 contemporary Indian artists in February next year. At the same time, Jitish Kallat’s solo show is also opening at Haunch of Venison, London. Renu Ramanath provides a curtain raiser to these two upcoming events.
To the majority of the Western mind, India still seems to be the land of magic and mystery. The tinted glass is apparently there always, especially in areas of cultural expression. It’s the land of unending wonders, spiritual solace and solutions. Even the urban squalour becomes part of the Indian exotica, when seen through that coloured looking glass.
However, there is also an increasing awareness that another India exists, that which struggles to surge ahead amidst all the contemporary economic and social chaos, an India that shares the crises and trepidations of the surrounding world, the India described by the media as ‘part superpower-in-the-making, and part infuriatingly dysfunctional democracy.’ (1) No wonder, the contemporary artists in this India are also going through the same crises and trepidations.
Many attempts have been made to showcase contemporary Indian art on a global platform in the recent years, but most of which have not exactly been able to win the deserved critical attention abroad, except from the “Oh ! So Lovely !” exclammations expected of conventional encounters with Indian exotica.
It is in this backdrop that Saatchi Gallery’s colossal show, ‘The Empire Strikes Back: Indian Art Today,’ is getting ready to open at Saatchi’s 70,000 sq. ft, Duke of York’s HQ building on King’s Road in the heart of London on January 29, 2010. The show is expected to continue till May 7, 2010. ‘The Empire Strikes Back,’ that had been in the making for a couple of years back (Charles Saatchi had reportedly been acquiring the works for this show from 2008) lines up an impressive array of 26 contemporary artists from the subcontinent. I mentioned ‘subcontinent’ because at least three of these artists are of Pakistani roots. The ‘Diaspora’ or the artists of Indian origin who were either born or presently settled abroad are also well-represented.
The complete list of the artists goes like this - Jaishri Abichandani, Mansoor Ali, Kriti Arora, Ajit Chauhan, Shezad Dawood, Atul Dodiya, Chitra Ganesh, Probir Gupta, Sakshi Gupta, Subodh Gupta, Tushar Joag, Jitish Kallat, Reena Saini Kallat, Bharti Kher, Rajan Krishnan, Huma Mulji, Pushpamala N, Yamini Nayar, Justin Ponmany, Rajesh Ram, Rashid Rana, TV Santhosh, Schandra Singh, Tallur L.N, Hema Upadhyay, T Venkanna.
 Subodh Gupta-Spill-2007 Stainless steel and stainless steel utensils-170x145hx95 cm |
Presenting the works, the gallery observes that, “Despite homegrown contemporary art being under represented in public museums in India, its commercial and international success has allowed small ventures to grow into thriving art galleries in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore, with outposts opening in Europe and the US. The rapid flourishing of this art scene on one hand and the recent economic downturn on the other have prompted critical questions about Indian culture and globalization in a country torn between a proudly independent mindset and a dependence on global consumption.
Against this backdrop, contemporary Indian artists are making a diverse range of work, which responds to the complexities of 21st century India. The Raj and its legacy, the failure of Gandhi’s and Nehru’s hopes for a harmonious secular India, remain rich subjects for many of the artists, whilst others are engaging with the country’s incredible urban expansion, its slums – some of the biggest in Asia – and issues around migration.
The Empire Strikes Back will bring together works by established and emerging artists, most of whom have never been shown in the UK before.”
The catalogue that accompanies the show will have an introduction by Zehra Jumabhoy, Mumbai-based art writer and assistant editor of ART India Magazine.
It remains to be seen whether ‘Empire Strikes Back,’ will be able to elicit a responsible critical reaction from the Western art circles, something different from the standard flourishes of adoration or clipped comments of derision.
Jitish Kallat in London
Even as “Empire Strikes Back,’ will be on at the Saatchi Gallery, the contemporary Indian artist Jitish Kallat will also open his solo at Haunch of Venison, London. The yet-to-be titled show, slated to open on February 15, 2010, will continue till March 27, 2010.
The present show follows his earlier exhibition at the Haunch of Venison, Zürich in 2008 and is expected to showcase the ‘full range of his visual vocabulary incorporating video, sculptural installation, photography and the large format paintings for which he is best known.’
According to the gallery, “Undermining conventional notions of the local and universal, the micro and the macro, and the way the two infect one another, Jitish Kallat’s forthcoming exhibition is a sustained meditation on the urban dwelling condition where the struggle between self-improvement and social disorder is at its most stark.”
At the core of Kallat’s concerns lies Mumbai, the metropolis that saw him grow up and ‘the experience of the individual within the crowd,’ a distinctly metropolitan experience. “Tackling his foundational themes of sustenance, survival and mortality in the contemporary urban environment of Mumbai, Kallat offsets a vivid, hand-made aesthetic with digitised renderings of streets fit-to-burst, where the cumulative impression of daily existence is pushed to the extreme.”
Cry of the gland - Jitish Kallat
The works, which are still in the making, include ‘Cry of the Gland,’ a huge photo collage and an “intricately treated sculpture of an oversized black lead kerosene stove that carries more than a hundred images on it.” The images are culled from the porch of the Victoria Terminus (or, the present-day Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus – CST), the nerve-centre of Mumbai’s commuter traffic.
He also re-presents Tristan Tzara’s Dada poem, ‘The Great Lament Of My Obscurity Three,’ as a text made from bone. A large video projection showing ‘x-rayed foodstuffs projected onto a dark celestial space and pouring into view as asteroids, stellar formations, planetary clusters and nebulae,’ and ‘a sculptural installation, a miniature crowd of rioting figures scatters across the floor, their scale exaggerated by the viewer’s height, as if seen through the wrong end of a telescope,’ form part of the works.
Referances
1. ‘Indian Disorder and English Precision,’ Vidya Subramaniam, The Hindu, Friday, November 6, 2009. (http://www.hindu.com/2009/11/06/stories/2009110653780900.htm )
(Renu Ramanath is Kochi-based writer and columnist. She has been a full-time journalist since 1994, having worked with leading Indian newspapers including The Hindu and Mathrubhumi. Email: renuramanath@hotmail.com )
Jitish Kallat/Public Notice 2/2007/4,479 fibreglass sculptures/dimensions variable
Courtesy of the Saatchi Gallery, London
©Jitish Kallat, 2009.
