Anju Dodiya
(1964)
Sub Rosa
"The direct nature of printmaking where you do something and the print shows you one result - was disturbing. It was after some work and some discussions that it struck me that printmaking is the memory of an image - not the actual image. From then on I found myself. I devised a process by which I made prints and later worked on them in collage mode. There was a freedom because there was a free overlap" (Anju Dodiya, Interview with Nancy...
"The direct nature of printmaking where you do something and the print shows you one result - was disturbing. It was after some work and some discussions that it struck me that printmaking is the memory of an image - not the actual image. From then on I found myself. I devised a process by which I made prints and later worked on them in collage mode. There was a freedom because there was a free overlap" (Anju Dodiya, Interview with Nancy Adajania and Ranjit Hoskote, Anju Dodiya: The Dialogue Series, Foundation b&g and Popular Prakashan, Mumbai, 2011, p. 59). In the present lot, part of a series of mixed media works produced during a residency at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute in 2007, Anju Dodiya pushes the traditional boundaries of printmaking processes to marry the relentless, repetitive nature of the medium with the lyrical, transitory quality that her paintings have come to be known for. Weaving together text from Sylvia Plath's poetry, her characteristic self-portrait, an exploration of her family linkage with textiles and fabrics, and assemblages of press cuttings and visual references from her vast archives, this series, All Night I Shall Gallop, provides an exciting lexicon of citations, both explicit and inscrutable. Titled 'Sub Rosa' (literally translating as 'under the rose' and usually denoting secrecy or confidentiality in English), this work is a large-format diptych that pairs handmade paper with fabric. Here Dodiya creatively cobbles together diverse images and materials to demonstrate her consciousness of the physicality of the surfaces and their contents. The term 'sub rosa' has been used variously through history, and is notably associated with confessionals in Christian symbolism, and with covert operations in contemporary military usage. In the present lot, two images of labyrinths, a self-portrait sticking out its golden tongue, and several found images of pointing fingers on the left panel add to the ideas of privacy, confession and guilt that Dodiya conjures through the title. The printed image on the fabric panel, of a hand projecting the shadow image of an animal, emphasizes the artifice and transitory nature of the image. Nancy Adajania observes that as the artist "…pushes printmaking beyond itself, the process of making turns into a slow dance of improvisation: the image is rubbed or stamped into the wet pulp and shown like an open wound, or held in place with a stigmata of screws. This process allows for a deep embedding of secrets; it also makes space for the artist's exhibitionist flair, her desire to stud the surface with actual objects, and not just their impressions" ("Birds in a Mirage of Gold", All Night I Shall Gallop, Bodhi Art exhibition catalogue, 2008, p. 9).
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Lot
25
of
75
AUTUMN ART AUCTION
19-20 SEPTEMBER 2012
Estimate
Rs 15,00,000 - 18,00,000
$28,305 - 33,965
Winning Bid
Rs 16,41,516
$30,972
(Inclusive of Buyer's Premium)
ARTWORK DETAILS
Anju Dodiya
Sub Rosa
2007
Mixed media on handmade paper and screen print on fabric
71.5 x 92 in (181.6 x 233.7 cm)
(Diptych) This work comprises two parts with the left measuring 65.5 x 51.5 inches, and the right measuring 71.5 x 34.5 inches The mixed media used is screen print on fabric and on stencil washed pigment stained STPI cotton paper with paper cut-outs, digital printed kozo paper inclusions, acrylic, gold leaf, toner ink, charcoal and abaca pulp
PROVENANCE: Bodhi Art, Mumbai
EXHIBITED: All Night I Shall Gallop - Anju Dodiya, Singapore Tyler Print Institute, Singapore, Bodhi Art, Singapore, Mumbai and New York, 2008 PUBLISHED: All Night I Shall Gallop - Anju Dodiya, Bodhi Art, Singapore, 2008
Category: Painting
Style: Figurative
ARTWORK SIZE:
Height of Figure: 6'