Uma Nair
MONARCH OF KITCHEN-KITSCH
Subodh Gupta’s artworks rarely inspire moderate responses, and this is one signal of the importance of his achievement.
Focusing on some of the most unexpected objects as models for his work, Gupta’s works eschew typical standards of “good taste” in art and zero in rather precisely on the vulnerabilities of hierarchies and value systems. At Gallery Ske Subodh turns the traditional cliché of the works of art inside out- and plays on the signature of conventional middle-class values through two important elements of Indian culture-vessels and food. In an interview to this critic in 2007 when he was showing at Bodhi Art, Subodh stated rather calmly: “Whatever I create belongs to everyday life; to normal life. The materials I use are so common; and in a way it is all mine. All my thoughts and materials I use belong to my family-its like the memories within me that live, even though I left my hometown so many years ago. When you look at the little tiffins, it reminds of my father who was a railway guard. He would carry a tiffin like this. In fact, this is where I come from.”
But in this show some vessels have been put into a glass showcase, with a wooden shelf, a transparent box like entity
that elicits responses in terms of a fast forward to a modern day minimalism in its construct. Details matter, the spoon which is full of miniature skulls echoes the momento mori tradition. The kitchen cabinet becomes an artifact in its glass case.

A couple of paintings are still lifes that dwell on food- Subodh the chef who loves his kitchen gives us a reflection of
the stages-of the plate that is unfinished-of the still life scenethat comes out of the kitchen-of the cup and saucer and cell phone and unopened mail in the saucer. It is this ability to translate the drama into perceptions that shine literally and
metaphorically that becomes the triumph of the language of formalism. A large installation with slim lights speaks of a
theatrical flourish of the land of stainless steel lustre and the power of the milk pail. Gupta reflects he is the monarch of kitchen-kitsch; transporting us from notions of scarcity to abundance, to middle class morality. His tiffins, milk pans, spoons and plates are aglow with the fantasy of populace, the people’s proverbial pot of gold. And viewers in Bangalore will witness avant garde