Subodh Gupta: Common Man

Subodh Gupta (born 1964) agglomerates everyday Indian household objects such as cooking utensils into monumental entities such as mushroom clouds or skulls, often sabotaging the fiction of intrinsic value through witty inversion and conjunction. Among the fruits of his methods are sculptural works such as bronze mangos, Hindu-swastika ceiling fans and worn-out sandals placed alongside three-dimensional Mona Lisas. Gupta’s mostly found materials, which range in texture from aluminum, bronze and stainless steel to fiberglass and neon, identify themselves as Indian in origin, but are recomposed into sculptural meanings accessible to all nationalities (one implication of the title’s common man). This monograph is published on the occasion of Gupta’s first solo exhibition in London; alongside full-color reproductions, it includes an interview between Gupta and Hans Ulrich Obrist and an essay on the artist’s work by Martin Herbert.