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Lot 6

 

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Apart from forcing his viewers to question their acts of viewing and claiming comprehension of the art on display, Atul Dodiya uses the present lot, an installation from the series Stammer in the Shade, to satirize the fact that for a large section of contemporary art buyers, it is not the actual image, but rather its details and provenance, that pique their interest. Here, these details are displayed prominently on the larger canvas standing... Apart from forcing his viewers to question their acts of viewing and claiming comprehension of the art on display, Atul Dodiya uses the present lot, an installation from the series Stammer in the Shade, to satirize the fact that for a large section of contemporary art buyers, it is not the actual image, but rather its details and provenance, that pique their interest. Here, these details are displayed prominently on the larger canvas standing forward on its crutches and brackets. Ironically, however, Dodiya’s version of the actual image they describe (in this case, contemporary Italian artist Enzo Cucchi’s 1981 painting, ‘Eroici Mari Rossi’) remains hidden from direct sight on the smaller canvas hanging behind it.

Exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2005, this series of installations highlights Dodiya’s penchant for creating art that requires active participation from the viewer in its interpretation. In this case, the interaction between the artist, art work and viewer actually takes on a physical dimension in addition to its intellectual one. As the artist notes, “The whole act of seeing or looking at a work of art is so complex. I want…to make the viewer more conscious of the act of looking. When I make canvases stand on crutches, they get a strong physical presence, almost as if you are in front of a human being. To hide a painting behind another painting, which a viewer can’t see properly, is frustrating and in the process the viewer would have to struggle hard, literally, to see the image behind. I am also playing with the absurdity of claiming understanding to any work of art” (Atul Dodiya in an interview with Peter Nagy, iCon: India Contemporary, Bose Pacia exhibition catalogue, Venice, 2005, p. 9).

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