Subodh Gupta: Common Man

by Harrison, Sara; Unterdorfer, Michaela

• ISBN13: 9783037641439
• ISBN10: 3037641436
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-01-31
• Publisher: Distributed Art Pub Inc

Summary

The creator of monumental sculptures that threaten spectacular dissolution at any moment, of refulgent photorealist paintings and playfully provocative installations, Subodh Gupta defies easy definition. He is the self confessed 'Idol Thief' who raids the cupboards of Indian culture, stealing the sacrosanct and the vulgar alike to make works that speak about a sub-continent on the move, but also about art itself, its chameleon-like ability to be different things in different places and yet to communicate in a language that can be understood by all. This book documents the artist's first solo exhibition in London and features an interview between Gupta and Hans Ulrich Obrist, and an essay on his work by Martin Herbert, offering a unique insight into an expansive, multifarious practice. Working here in aluminium, bronze, watercolour, stainless steel, fibreglass, neon, and found objects, Gupta collides everyday objects from his native India with icons of Western art, unsettling the status quo. Published with Hauser & Wirth, Zurich / London / New York.