Foul Play

Joshi is not alone. There are several others, like Birmingham-based Ivan Smith whose rather direct references to the Abu Ghraib camp in Iraq through Action Man dolls, wrapped in body bags and head masks, are making a splash at Courtyard Gallery, Mumbai. Shilpa Gupta’s recently concluded show at Sakshi Art Gallery deconstructed virtual games as she posed as one of the protagonists, dressed in army fatigues.

Not too long ago Tejal Shah’s video art piece, “I Love My India”, had people playing with an air gun to pop off balloons while talking about the Gujarat riots. And Tushar Joag had actually created a homemade videogame in which he critiqued the killing of King Kong — he called it the West’s perception of the “wild” uncontrollable beast that belongs to less developed nations.

Says Joshi: “I use toys as a metaphor. The miniature temples and guns become toys to protect and project one’s religious beliefs, and I have been creating those dioramas both as two-dimensional drawings and installations.” The whole show explores the notion of collective identities — one’s own belief of being many.

For Gupta, it is about looking at everyday life. She explores everything from online games to billboards and TV channels. “The whole click-and-control syndrome allows you to think that you are controlling what you are viewing and doing, but there is this other agenda where a kind of mass opinion is being shaped,” says Gupta. “When you are watching the TV or playing these games, Bush and Blair get you to verify the war on terror campaign.”

It becomes easier for the artists to spread their agenda through the seemingly harmless medium of toys or TV because that is what we are used to. “If the manner in which the message is delivered is unique or different, you will notice it. Since it is told over jelly and ice cream, one can deliver a message of war and gloss over it with synthetic beauty,” says Gupta.

Giving an international dimension to this interesting approach to the underlying violence of toys, Smith plays up and critiques his childhood, action-hero fantasy. “I am of a generation for whom an action-man doll fulfilled the role of the fantasy action hero,” he says. “Today the dolls have been superseded by a more commercially aggressive, media-driven market selling death and destruction in a more menacing fashion.” This series has been specifically designed for Mumbai although he has worked previously with children’s toys. “My video called Porn Star was made using my children’s soft toys,” says Smith.

It is interesting that such a strong critique should come from someone living and working in Britain. Smith gives us his take on the “Axis of Good” that both Tony Blair and George W Bush would like to see themselves as. “Was it not Bush who said ‘you are either with us or against us’? I am happily against them. But I am an artist, not a politician or an activist,” he says.

Now the question remains: will this twist to the underlying violence of games jog us into seeing our place differently?