Important Notice

A talented draughtsman and watercolourist, Anju Dodiya frequently employs the self-image to reference the struggles involved in the process of developing and deconstructing ideas and images and, more specifically, the complexity and violence of her own creative process. According to Kamala Kapoor, the artist's use of her own image transcends simple self-portraiture. In her large-format watercolours, "…Dodiya manipulates technique and subject... A talented draughtsman and watercolourist, Anju Dodiya frequently employs the self-image to reference the struggles involved in the process of developing and deconstructing ideas and images and, more specifically, the complexity and violence of her own creative process. According to Kamala Kapoor, the artist's use of her own image transcends simple self-portraiture. In her large-format watercolours, "…Dodiya manipulates technique and subject matter to a deeper logic: the articulation of the artist's dilemma in contemporary times. Whether she indulges in a bit of post-Modernist cannibalism, bypasses all exclusionary categories and juxtaposes the distant past with a present that usurps it… the inherent drama in these works invariably bespeaks her real interest: the stat of the artist poised mid-point between the irreducible subjectivity of her allegorical narratives and the intellectual beckoning of nonsensual, conceptual elements that pervade today's art world" ("Holding the Mountain", Anju Dodiya: Recent Paintings, Gallery Chemould exhibition catalogue, 1996, not paginated).

The present lot, an early watercolour, features Dodiya calmly contemplating the large python she holds aloft. The studio setting here is suggested by an empty easel on the right. Menacing images like these are not unusual in Dodiya's work; in other watercolours she has subjected her painterly self to shards of glass, a rain of swords, impenetrable mazes, stocks and shackles amongst other torment. The artist explains, "When I started working, using my own self was the only way I knew how to paint. At that time, my works were like nocturnal diaries, full of stories and narratives. This invented self stayed on, it became a useful device, a take-off point, to explore my various states of mind- the darkness within, the tenderness and the fear. I set up characters and stories around it to explore this. Using my own face also gives me a sense of comfort, because very often my images are violent. I do not want to rain swords over someone else's body. I would rather do it to myself" (Anju Dodiya, Real in Realism, Vadhera Art Gallery exhibition catalogue, 2002, not paginated).

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