Through a Queer Lens

The exhibition covers a lot of ground as Gupta has entered into the intimate world of women who,unlike their gay counterparts,have largely remained invisible. In his previous work,“Mr Malhotra’s Party”,Gupta did portraits of women standing in public spaces like a petrol pump as guests of a virtual party. Says Gupta,“This was a series I did in 2007 that visualized an imaginary private party where queer people met in a public domain.”

There are other portraits,too—- of men like Delhi-based queer rights activist Gautam Bhan lounging as an aesthetic nude. Two men kiss against the backdrop of a grand studio while another man has been candidly caught having an afternoon snooze.

The show also displays some of Gupta’s earlier work,providing a context as well as a map of the artist’s journey to those who may be looking at his work for the first time. The general tone of “Love Undetectable” is one of celebration of queer identity. It unfolds in a fairly safe space like a gallery but when put up on the wall as art,the images occupy a different kind of dimension.

As Shivaji Panikkar,art critic and former acting dean of Faculty of Fine Art put in his paper Art as the Domain of Cultural Difference; Conformity Resistance,Subversion and Perversity presented at the India Art Summit,“Gupta’s involvement with the high art coincides with the rise of more self-conscious gay activism within the country.” One is left to decide whether Gupta’s work is art,activism or both,but what one is certain of is that the exhibition will occupy an important place in the history of art many decades from now. The show will also travel to Mumbai.

The exhibition will be on till September 25