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Lot Essay
'I am the idol thief. I steal from the drama of Hindu life. And from the kitchen - these pots, they are like stolen gods, smuggled out of the country. Hindu kitchens are as important as prayer rooms. These pots are like something sacred, part of important rituals' (S. Gupta quoted in C. Mooney, 'Subodh Gupta: The Idol Thief', Art Review, No. 17, December 2007, p. 57).
Gleaming with a shining, metallic lustre, Untitled by Subodh Gupta is a large-scale, cylindrical stainless steel sculptural installation from his iconic 'vessel' series. Mounted on the wall, the objects appear to be elegantly suspended, magnetically fused together in a dense accumulation. Executed in 2007, Untitled is comprised of hundreds of everyday objects. From tiffin boxes to chappati tongs, Untitled overflows with quotidian utensils found in Indian kitchens. Amassed together by the artist from local markets in his hometown, Untitled monumentalises the familiar and mundane. A monochrome of glistening, polished components, Gupta elevates these domestic mass-produced objects, in a Duchampian-like gesture, from their position as commonplace trinkets, creating a luminescent totemic structure.
Born in the one of the most humble provinces of India, Gupta identifies himself as an aam aadmi, a 'Common Man'. This concept of the commonplace and everyday has continually informed Gupta's practice. Treating the modern day kitchen like a new-age secular temple, the core of the home, Gupta refers to his vessels as idols or a hungry god. As the artist explains: 'When I was small, I saw [the kitchen] as a place to pray. A kind of temple. For me it's a place full of spirituality' (S. Gupta quoted in Subodh Gupta, exh. cat., Jack Sahinman Gallery, New York 2008, p. 5). In Untitled, Gupta infuses the nuances of his culture into each stainless steel element, treating these objects with reverence, whilst offering a playful commentary on the shift from spiritualism to materialism, an inevitable consequence of India's recent economic boom.
Gleaming with a shining, metallic lustre, Untitled by Subodh Gupta is a large-scale, cylindrical stainless steel sculptural installation from his iconic 'vessel' series. Mounted on the wall, the objects appear to be elegantly suspended, magnetically fused together in a dense accumulation. Executed in 2007, Untitled is comprised of hundreds of everyday objects. From tiffin boxes to chappati tongs, Untitled overflows with quotidian utensils found in Indian kitchens. Amassed together by the artist from local markets in his hometown, Untitled monumentalises the familiar and mundane. A monochrome of glistening, polished components, Gupta elevates these domestic mass-produced objects, in a Duchampian-like gesture, from their position as commonplace trinkets, creating a luminescent totemic structure.
Born in the one of the most humble provinces of India, Gupta identifies himself as an aam aadmi, a 'Common Man'. This concept of the commonplace and everyday has continually informed Gupta's practice. Treating the modern day kitchen like a new-age secular temple, the core of the home, Gupta refers to his vessels as idols or a hungry god. As the artist explains: 'When I was small, I saw [the kitchen] as a place to pray. A kind of temple. For me it's a place full of spirituality' (S. Gupta quoted in Subodh Gupta, exh. cat., Jack Sahinman Gallery, New York 2008, p. 5). In Untitled, Gupta infuses the nuances of his culture into each stainless steel element, treating these objects with reverence, whilst offering a playful commentary on the shift from spiritualism to materialism, an inevitable consequence of India's recent economic boom.