On Common Ground

Yes,and this exhibition brings it all together — marble,bronze,wood and stainless steel. An artist never knows what he or she is going to work with. I don’t know what I will do next,but largely most of it is somehow related to the common man and the middle-class. For instance,even marble is found in every middle-class house in India nowadays.

Would you say that mythological influences are also gradually seeping in your work? Earlier this year,you had depicted goddess Kali in the exhibition Faith Matters in Ukraine and in the current exhibition you have Out of Nothing,a fibreglass snake akin to Vishnu’s sheshnaag,surrounded by utensils.

You could perhaps say that. It’s just what comes to my mind at that time. Mythology too is a part of our lives.

,b>Does the work Twins,that has tiffin boxes cast in marble,bring the new and old together for you?

Marble is being used in art for several years now,and it is my attempt at doing something different with it. I travelled to Gujarat with my designs and worked with marble craftsmen there. For the other installation Atta,I travelled to Zurich. The show is titled on yet another series of oil on canvas. There are no paintings on display,but in this installation I have used bronze and covered it with canvas and painted a layer over it.

How did the sculptural rendition of Marcel Duchamp’s L.H.O.O.Q in your show at Hauser & Wirth,Zurich come about?

I had read about Dadaism,and had seen the work of Duchamp. I wanted to do something with his work. After seeing his Mona Lisa I wondered what it would be like to transform the painting into a sculpture. I’m not trying to change anything. I’m trying to create a dialogue with an artist I’ve wanted to have a dialogue with.

Is there any Indian artist whose work you’d like to work with?

For that I need to feel as inspired. That hasn’t happened yet.

How was the experience of working with Preljocaj?

It was good. In fact we are thinking of getting the production to India next year. I don’t know if I’ll do a lot more of set designing though. I just don’t have the time.

You have always maintained that the West made you.

I was struggling in Delhi,and when most galleries refused to exhibit my work in India and things were rather slow,I got The Gasworks international residency award and later the Bose Pacia Award. Things only became better after that.

How do you compare the art scene in the West and India?

We have a long,long way to go. In an exhibition in the West you have 500 to 600 people walking in; here there are 10 a day. There is no art education. The country does not have a single museum of contemporary art.

After showing at some of the most prestigious venues around the world,is there any place you still want to show?

Museums across the world.

In April your work Melting Meteor sold for approximately rupees 36 lakh at the Christie’s Green Auction. It was only next to Damien Hirst’s All You Need is Jealousy. Do you keep a tab on auctions?

Not at all. I don’t know what to say about being compared with Hirst.

Do you and Bharti Kher (wife) discuss your work. We do. We also criticise each other. Of course both of us are very busy. She has not seen the body of work in this exhibition yet.

Do you still travel to your village Khagaul (near Bihar)?

I do at times. Some of my siblings still stay there,though,on most occasions they come to Delhi.

The exhibition at Nature Morte, Neeti Bagh,is on till January 23. Contact: 41740215