Subodh Gupta

Nature Morte Gallery, Berlin
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Anupa Mehta, "Global Local: Subodh Gupta", India 20: Conversations with Contemporary Artists, Ahmedabad 2007, p. 181, illustration of another example in colour
Exhibition Catalogue, New York, Jack Shainman Gallery, Subodh Gupta: Gandhi's Three Monkeys, 2008, p. 85, illustration of another example in colour

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate. Condition: This work is in very good condition. There are light rubs and handling marks in places.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Subodh Gupta has emerged as the foremost cross-cultural interpreter of Western and Indian visual traditions, pioneering a globalised formal language that is impressively epitomised by Leap of Faith (2005-6). Applying Surrealist and Pop techniques of appropriation to reinvent contemporary Indian artefacts, Gupta brings forth uncanny anti-monuments to India’s nascent postmodern reality. Under his influence, the traditional infrastructure of India’s cities – where milk is transported in stainless steel buckets – becomes stretched and swollen by the demands of an ever-growing and consuming population. The enlarged buckets in Leap of Faiththus commemorate the rapid cultural and economic change currently experienced in India, and echo India’s exponentially growing place in the Western consciousness.

Poignant and full of wit, the titles that Gupta ascribes to his sculptures often convey a layered meaning. Leap of Faith may be seen to evoke Mao’s “Great Leap Forward” in China, a moment of faith which both betrayed the Chinese people and measurably modernised the nation. With India so frequently figured as following on the heels of Chinese development, Gupta here ponders the potential risks and consequences of his home country’s particular historical moment. More broadly, Gupta references the leap of faith that an artist requires of their audience, highlighting the suspension of disbelief or hesitation that leads to moments of artistic, cultural, and political breakthrough.

Neo-Pop artist Jeff Koons once referred to stainless steel – both his and Gupta’s medium of choice – as “proletariat silver”, denoting a material with deep commercial appeal that is available to the masses (Jeff Koons quoted in: Vilis R. Inde, Art in the Courtroom, Westport 1998, p. 6). Playing off of these associations – but here balancing perhaps the seductive sheen of oriental riches with the economies of scale most strongly routed in Asia – Leap of Faith is a work instantly recognisable as belonging to Gupta’s conceptually important and visually scintillating oeuvre.