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Lot 149

 

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Working across a diverse range of media, including sculpture, painting, performance, video, and photography, Subodh Gupta transforms objects quintessential to Indian culture and everyday life into monumental works of art that interrogate the country’s evolving social, economic, and geopolitical realities. In particular, his name has become synonymous with the stainless-steel utensils found in abundance across Indian homes and so intimately... Working across a diverse range of media, including sculpture, painting, performance, video, and photography, Subodh Gupta transforms objects quintessential to Indian culture and everyday life into monumental works of art that interrogate the country’s evolving social, economic, and geopolitical realities. In particular, his name has become synonymous with the stainless-steel utensils found in abundance across Indian homes and so intimately entwined with daily ritual, both sacred and mundane. The artist explains, “Kitchen utensils and household items remain central to my practice because they are heavy with stories and emotions. These objects are common yet intensely personal, carrying the essence of lived experiences and cultural rituals of the kitchen. By incorporating them into my work, I seek to bridge the ordinary with the symbolic, creating art that speaks to the shared human experience while reflecting my own history and heritage.” (Artist quoted in Chanpreet Khurana, “Artist Subodh Gupta on Why He Continues to Work With Steel Utensils, Aluminium Buckets: ‘They Are Heavy With Stories & Emotions’”, Money Control, 19 November 2024, online)

Born in 1964 in the small town of Khargul in Bihar, Gupta rose to prominence as one of India’s most celebrated contemporary artists parallel to the liberalisation of the Indian economy during the 1990s. As India’s middle class gained greater mobility, its aspirations expanded, driven by increasing global connectivity. The rise of globalisation blurred cultural boundaries, with exposure to Western media and commerce reshaping the identity of urban India. The title of the present lot, Black Skin, White Mask, perhaps references the resulting struggle of Indians to embrace elements of Western culture-now inextricable from the global economy-while striving to preserve their own traditional roots.

The sculpture is an assemblage of steel utensils, including pots, pans, tumblers and other everyday kitchenware. Many of these, like the jhaara or slotted spoon used for frying, panja or spoon to serve rice, palta or metal spatula, and lota or squat pitcher, are staples in South Asian households but may be less familiar to a Western audience. Dietary habits in South Asia are deeply linked to social mores and hierarchies that go back centuries. Thus, even though these utensils may now be viewed as commonplace, their relevance goes far beyond mere functionality. Scholar and critic S Kalidas highlights their symbolic significance writing, “What is often overlooked is that in the Indian space these utensils have a secret, sacred life of their own. These objects-the baalti (bucket), the lotaa (squat pitcher), the kumbhaa, the kalasham or the gharaa (large pot-bellied pitcher), the pateela (pan), the thaali (plate) and the chimtaa (tongs)- are also signifiers of widespread cultural, mystical and religious practices in rural and urban middle class India even today.” (S Kalidas, “Of Capacities and Containment: Poetry and Politics in the Art of Subodh Gupta”, Subodh Gupta: Gandhi’s Three Monkeys, New York: Jack Shainman Gallery, 2008, p. 84) Through works like the present lot, Gupta highlights the distinctiveness and complexity of India’s socio-economic development, challenging singular, one-size-fits-all narratives.

Steel utensils themselves reflect the evolving landscape of the Indian economy. When they first entered Indian kitchens in the late 1950s, following Independence, they were scarce due to the limited number of manufacturing units in the country. This rarity elevated them to symbols of prestige and economic privilege, proudly displayed in the homes of those who could afford them. An informal barter system even emerged, with vendors going door to door exchanging steel utensils for old clothes. However, with the liberalisation of the Indian economy and the increased availability of foreign goods, their allure waned, and they transitioned from status symbols to commonplace household items.

Yet, Gupta subverts this perception by reimaging the humble steel utensil as a monumental, glittering object, opening up an interpretative gap engendered by cultural differences. As Nicolas Bourriaud notes, while in India, it is a signifier of everyday domesticity, to a Western audience its sparkle denotes luxury. (Jack Shainman Gallery, p. 3) The steel utensil takes on a whole new meaning as it moves from the kitchens of middle-class India to the white cube of prestigious international galleries and museums around the globe. Explaining Gupta’s examination of migration, shifting identities, and the inherent contradictions of globalisation, curator and gallerist Peter Nagy writes, “…Outside of India, in the world capitals of New York, London, Paris and Tokyo, where culture is capital and artistic expression is the highest form of entrepreneurship, these steel objects look to be revelatory, as they certainly are in their superb encapsulation of form, function, materiality and economic rationality. Inside of India, these objects may appear as unsophisticated, old- fashioned, awkward and, to many, embarrassing and indicative of the inherited weight of the past (including poverty, the caste system, rampant corruption and a lugubrious Socialist State). The success of Subodh’s sculptures using these objects is not this either/or situation…but that their meaning and reception in either locale emphasizes this crisis of identity India is now experiencing, both for itself and how it is perceived by others.” (Peter Nagy, “Subodh Gupta: The Metaphorical Sublime”, START. STOP, Mumbai: Bodhi Art Gallery, 2007)

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