G Ravinder Reddy
(1956)
Untitled
Ravinder Reddy's sculptures present the Indian woman in all her glory and celebrate her in all her avatars. The blue, fiery orange and gold complexions of the artist's larger than life heads and figures generate a feeling of awe. Voluptuous, yet with a dainty sway to their bodies, these women have expressive faces and wide eyes lined with kohl, complementing the fire engine red of their lips and their bejeweled ears and noses. The...
Ravinder Reddy's sculptures present the Indian woman in all her glory and celebrate her in all her avatars. The blue, fiery orange and gold complexions of the artist's larger than life heads and figures generate a feeling of awe. Voluptuous, yet with a dainty sway to their bodies, these women have expressive faces and wide eyes lined with kohl, complementing the fire engine red of their lips and their bejeweled ears and noses. The artist's commitment to feminine sensuality and power brings to mind age old traditions celebrating the Goddess that have prevailed in India for several centuries. On the other hand, parallels may also be drawn with more contemporary, secular renditions of women in popular culture; sensual images conjured in films and posters that line the bazaars. "Suspended between the urban and the rural Reddy's sculpture is a cultural hybrid. This interplay between societies has been of interest to Reddy; combining the stimulus of the old and the new he turns an iconic object into one of satirical social commentary - the classical form of Indian sculpture overlaid with the visual ethic of popular culture, becomes voluptuous, and accessible" (Private/Corporate IV: Works from the Lekha and Anupam Poddar, New Delhi, and DaimlerChrysler Collections: A Dialogue, DaimlerChrysler Contemporary exhibition catalogue, Berlin, 2007, p. 52). The elaborately decorative venis or hair ornaments, glistening jewels that adorn the ears and nose, bring to fore the Indian woman who inhabits both spaces simultaneously, the sacred and the secular. The artist's women are exaggerated, but beautiful. They are jarring yet sensual, reflecting the artist's fascination for the female form in all its manifestations. "Invoking the traditional, fecund female figure of Indian art's historical past, Reddy transforms the image into a contemporary idea and medium. Reddy's thickly unctuous, polychrome polyester-resin fiberglass sculptures fluctuate from modest to monumental - some heads are 10 feet high, and female figures have soared 12 feet. These images can be viewed either as mundane or coeval yakshis; certainly, however, they celebrate the timeless feminine potency" (Andrew L. Cohen, India: Contemporary Art from Northeastern Private Collections, Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum exhibition catalogue, 2002, p.99).
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Lot
6
of
140
AUTUMN ART AUCTION
24-25 SEPTEMBER 2013
Estimate
$30,000 - 40,000
Rs 18,30,000 - 24,40,000
Winning Bid
$36,012
Rs 21,96,732
(Inclusive of Buyer's Premium)
USD payment only.
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ARTWORK DETAILS
G Ravinder Reddy
Untitled
Painted polyester, resin and fiberglass
Height: 26 in (66 cm) Width: 14 in (35.5 cm) Depth: 22 in (55.8 cm)
PROVENANCE: Acquired from Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai, 2004
Category: Sculpture
Style: Figurative