Subodh Gupta : Common Man
Common Man is the title of well-known Indian artist Subodh Gupta’s first major show in the United Kingdom, being held at Hauser & Wirth‘s two galleries in London’s west end.
I first came across Subodh Gupta’s work ‘in the flesh’ at the Venice Biennale 2 years ago, when one of his vast, imposing sculptures depicting a human skull was positioned outside Francois Pinault’s Palazzo Grassi (see image below) almost as if in response to Damien Hirst’s highly publicised ‘For the Love of God’ which was being exhibited at the same time in London.
Born in India in 1964, Gupta is one of the most exciting and audacious contemporary artists to have emerged in recent years. He is best known for using everyday Indian objects like steel tiffin boxes, pans, bicycles and milk pails to create sculptures that reflect on the economic transformations of his homeland.
Subodh Gupta has lived and worked in New Delhi since 1990 and these pieces created especially for this exhibition moves away from his sculptural work towards objects that possess a different kind of quality.
Made from bronze, steel and marble, the new works merge appropriate icons from the canon of western art with replicas of perishable goods from India.
Among the works made specifically for the show is a three dimensional reworking of a bronze of Duchamp’s moustachioed Mona Lisa L.H.O.O.Q.
Exhibition runs from 1 – 31 October 2009, Hauser & Wirth Piccadilly and Old Bond Street, London.
For more information, please click HERE.
