Important Notice

Atul Dodiya often fuses and alludes to art historical pieces to bring out a personal narrative. The present lot featured in a series of works in an exhibition by Vadehra Art Gallery in 2007. Titled "Saptapadi: Scenes from Marriage (regardless)", these works were made between 2003 and 2007. At once humorous and terrifying, it presents the viewer with the numerous glitches and fears that begin manifesting after marriage through the character... Atul Dodiya often fuses and alludes to art historical pieces to bring out a personal narrative. The present lot featured in a series of works in an exhibition by Vadehra Art Gallery in 2007. Titled "Saptapadi: Scenes from Marriage (regardless)", these works were made between 2003 and 2007. At once humorous and terrifying, it presents the viewer with the numerous glitches and fears that begin manifesting after marriage through the character Jeevanlal, who features in a short story written by Bhupen Khakhar. The fear of impotency and inability to perform, and its resolution are juxtaposed here, and Bhupen Khakhar, whom Atul Dodiya has always held in reverence, features as a patron saint who cures Jeevanlal of his impotency. As with many of his works, there is a reference to famous artists; apart from Bhupen Khakhar, German artist Martin Kippenberger is referenced through a detail from one of his 1982 installations, What On Earth Happens on Sunday. "The mood in these paintings swings from a seemingly serene idealisation of gender roles, through the extreme hilarity of a non-dialogue between incompatibles, to the revulsion of emotional catastrophe. And through this melodramatic oscillation among moods, there runs a tenderness and a gentle compassion, but also a vein of self-pity."(Saptapadi: Scenes from Marriage (regardless), Vadehra Art Gallery Exhibition Catalogue, 2007, Delhi).

In a conversation about these works with cultural theorist Nancy Adajania, art critic Ranjit Hoskote sees this as "an extended project of psychological portraiture, in which it is not the beloved that is increasingly subjected to caricature, so much as the idealisations...of domestic bliss, troubadour love, togetherness and enduring beauty are allowed to fall before the caricaturist's implements....His paintings are frequently marked with announcements for improbable feats, incredible wagers, out- of-the-world claims." (Ibid.)

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