Important Notice

Surendran Nair's ongoing suite of works, Cuckoonebulopolis, takes its name from the ideal world between heaven and earth that the Greek playwright Aristophanes first imagined in his satire, 'Birds'. Negotiating the tumultuous relationship between the ideal and the real, Nair creates a charged space on his canvases for his socio-political commentary. He explains, "Though the basic premise of imagining a utopia fascinates me, in the sense that it... Surendran Nair's ongoing suite of works, Cuckoonebulopolis, takes its name from the ideal world between heaven and earth that the Greek playwright Aristophanes first imagined in his satire, 'Birds'. Negotiating the tumultuous relationship between the ideal and the real, Nair creates a charged space on his canvases for his socio-political commentary. He explains, "Though the basic premise of imagining a utopia fascinates me, in the sense that it is a craving for a better world and thus a critique of the times…I use the idea of a utopia as a backdrop, a theatrical device to sharpen the contours of my images; the inner terrain they carry within and the outer, which they find themselves in, as well as to accentuate the tenor of whatever they address" (The Bad Behaviour of Singularities, Sakshi Gallery exhibition catalogue, 2006, not paginated).

In many paintings from this series, Nair approaches contemporary identity as a play enacted by individuals. Consequently, the actor and his stage are familiar subjects in his oeuvre. "The model of theatre, especially as distilled in the twinned glory and anxiety of being an actor, is central to Nair's art…His fascination with the ceremonial of theatre is manifest: we see it in his evocation of the ritual of making up and presenting oneself in a persona, literally the mask of another personality; in the gestures of self-transformation that his characters perform, allowing for passage from one shape or identity to another; and in the ensemble action of animated visual image and stimulating text that characterises his paintings" (Ranjit Hoskote, "The Openness of Secrecy: Soliloquy and Conversation in the Art of Surendran Nair", Itinerant Mythologies: Surendran Nair, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai, 2008, p. 8).

In the present lot, the artist presents an actor in the costume of a Great Hornbill, a large, colourful bird associated with several cultures and ritual practices in India and other countries. Here the actor, supporting his oversize facial 'prosthesis' on a fine stick, is not just a conduit between artist and viewer but also a vehicle for both to explore their identity and reality. "Incidentally, the Sanskrit word for actor: patra, also connotes vessel or container. The figures are thus cast as vehicles in an 'unreal' or hyperreal theatrical space that embraces many histories and traditions in order to get under the skin of contemporary reality" (Under the Skin of Simulation: Three Contemporary Painters, The Fine Art Resource exhibition catalogue, 2003, not paginated).

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