Important Notice

Mumbai-based Anju Dodiya draws inspiration from a wide spectrum of sources, ranging from Renaissance masters and Japanese Ukiyo-e paintings to French cinema and Greek mythology. Her work is often self-referential, and features female subjects in various real and imagined scenes. "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... Mumbai-based Anju Dodiya draws inspiration from a wide spectrum of sources, ranging from Renaissance masters and Japanese Ukiyo-e paintings to French cinema and Greek mythology. Her work is often self-referential, and features female subjects in various real and imagined scenes. "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." (Anju Dodiya, Real in Realism, New Delhi: Vadhera Art Gallery, 2002)

The present lot is a whimsical portrayal of a woman embracing a squid-like sea creature. The marine environment is minimally represented by a diagonal sea-green stroke across the otherwise monochromatic painting. A string of black pearls forms the symbol of infinity or the number 8, echoing the entwined forms beside it. Dodiya has referred to this as the eight fold path of dharma in reference to another work titled Embrace Vigil, 2005. The necklace recurs in Dodiya's oeuvre, and "connotes adornment, honour and talismanic value. Equally, it signals greed, humiliation and death. The necklace is both armour and noose, an abacus of sin dragging the wearer down to perdition." (Nancy Adajania, "Burning Closer to the Light of Crisis," The Necklace of Echoes: Anju Dodiya, New Delhi: Vadehra Art Gallery, 2010, p. 34)

Dodiya works with various media, complementing her mastery of draughtsmanship and painting. She has experimented with textiles, fabric, and even mattresses. "When you work on paper, confronting that white is a terribly fearful thing. With textile, something's there already, and I have to interact with the textures. It made the painting process more carefree for me." (Artist quoted in "Gieve Patel Talks to Anju Dodiya," Anju Dodiya, New York: Bose Pacia, 2006)

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