While others build doors to shut themselves inside four walls,the rebel in artist Shilpa Gupta,builds doors to break those walls. With her solo show at Castle Blandy,France,by Galleria Continua in collaboration with Yvon Lambert Gallery on till October 24,the Mumbai-based new media artist has not only opened new doors to success,but also brought Indian contemporary art into global focus. The 33-year-old artistwho has recently been nominated as one of the the top 29 artists of the 21st centuryis the only Indian contemporary artist picked up by Swiss curator Hans Ulrich Obrist in his Curating 21st century exhibition,in Europes Du Magazine. In 1997,at my maiden exhibition,my work was placed next to the door at Jahangir Art Gallery,Mumbai. I was elated then,and I still love being by the door. Being there gives me the freedom to belong to boththe inner and outer world, says Gupta. At Castle Blandy,Gupta is exhibiting a combination of her new and old works. Her latest work shown at the exhibition is I Keep Falling At You,which is an installation of thousands of microphones with multi-audio channel. This is the age when the medium defines communication. Through this installation I want to convey the change in communication pattern. Now the medium speaks to the sender and the receiver rather than vice versa, says Gupta. Among her older works on display are an animated light installation called Blind Stars,and a photo-based mechanical installation called 100 Queues,in which she shows images of people standing in different queues at different locations. It is such a shame that even for a basic necessity like water,people have to wait in line, says Gupta,as she explains the theme of her work. The artist graduated in 1997 from JJ School of Fine Arts,Mumbai,in sculpture. She loves to interact with people from different walks of life and that shows in her work. For her work While I Sleep,the artist worked with psychologist Mahzarin Banaji,on the reception of images to explore the concepts of fear and prejudice. She also met and interviewed Noam Chomsky for the same. I had a list of questions for him. But he kept asking me about my art. He was very impressed with the Blame Bottles project, shares Gupta. The Blame Bottles project was an interactive installation with bottles that contained simulated blood and carried blame stickers. It also included posters,video and an interactive performance where the artist distributed the bottles in Mumbais local trains in 2004. Since her graduation,the artist has used interactive videos,websites,objects,photographs,sounds and public performances to probe themes like religion,security,nationality and desire. She is known for her engaging socio-political commentary and interactive art. One prominent example of this is There is No Explosive in this in 2007 when Gupta made a satirical comment on the rising security paranoia post 9 As part of the same project,she distributed suitcases that read There is No Explosive in This,on the streets of London and Florida. We distributed hundreds of them. In USA,a group of punks got offended with the project,but next day,one of them returned to collect a bag. I knew that my art had hit the right chord, says Gupta. Sincd she returned from France,Gupta has been busy with her upcoming exhibition at OK Center for Contemporary Art,Linz,Austria. Still she has found time to celebrate the publication of a monogram of her work,edited by Nancy Adajania and released by Prestel Publishers and Vadehra Bookstore. The book will be launched in Delhi soon.
