Subodh Gupta

Jack Shainman Gallery, New York
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

New York, Jack Shainman Gallery, Still, Steal, Steel, March - April 2008

Nicolas Bourriaud, S. Kalidas and Dan Cameron, Eds., Subodh Gupta: Gandhi's Three Monkeys, New York 2008, pp. 46-47, 49 and 51, illustrated
Subodh Gupta, Ed., Subodh Gupta, Milan 2009, p. 113, illustrated

Subodh Gupta: Condition: This work is in very good condition. There are a few light hairline scratches and areas of faint wear to the tip of some of the pincers. There are few pincers with minor partial paint loss. Please note that this work comes with additional pincers. Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the overall tonality is brighter and more vibrant in the original, with the pink tending more towards a deep fuchsia.
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Pink Chimta is a magnificent example of Subodh Gupta’s brilliantly distinctive artistic language: a stunning celebration and elevation of an everyday domestic object. Composed of a cascade of steel tongs, or Chimta – utensils routinely used within Indian cooking for the preparation of Chapatti – Pink Chimta projects a sense of power and presence, dominating its surrounding environment whilst seeming to float mysteriously above the ground. The shocking pink hue adds another dimension to the work, imbuing Pink Chimta with connotations of festivity and good humour. Yet Pink Chimta is a work of truly multi-faceted allegories, evoking ancient forms of belief and diverse symbolism.  S. Kalidas argues that, within many Indian households, utensils such as Chimta are endowed with near magical properties: “In the Indian space these utensils  have a secret, sacred life of their own. These objects… are also signifiers of widespread cultural, mystical and religious practices in rural and urban middle class India even today.”(S. Kalidas in: "Of Capacities and Containment: Poetry and politics in the art of Subodh Gupta," in: Exhibition Catalogue, New York, Jack Shainman Gallery, Subodh Gupta: Gandhi’s Three Monkeys, 2009, p. 84). Through their inclusion in Pink Chimta, these utensils have been further raised to the level of art object in their own right, whilst simultaneously providing a form of cultural and social commentary. The vibrantly shiny surface of the installation – arguably indicative of an international consumerist ethos – in combination with the mass-produced nature of its materials ensure that Gupta succeeds in delivering an artistic and social message of great profundity and importance, yet still allows the viewer to evolve their own personal responses. Pink Chimta remains one of the most visually striking objects within the artist’s entire oeuvre to date: the sheer genius of its conception reveals why Gupta is considered to be one of the most influential Indian contemporary artists working today.