- 585
Atul Dodiya
Estimate
30,000 - 50,000 USD
bidding is closed
Description
- Atul Dodiya
- Cloud-burst
- Signed and dated 'Atul '05' lower left
- Kaza paper, carbon toner, vine charcoal, gold leaf, cotton shirt, paper pulp, screenprinting ink, pigment, handmade STPI cotton and linen paper
- 67 x 55¼ in. (170 x 140.4 cm.)
- Executed in 2005
Provenance
Acquired from Bodhi Art Gallery
Exhibited
Singapore, Singapore Tyler Print Institute, Atul Dodiya: The Wet Sleeves of My Paper Robe (Sabari in Her Youth: After Nandalal Bose), January 2006
Literature
N. Adajania and R. Hoskote, Atul Dodiya: The Wet Sleeves of My Paper Robe (Sabari in Her Youth: After Nandalal Bose), Singapore Tyler Print Institute, Singapore, 2006, illustration p. 32
Condition
This work is in excellent condition, as viewed. It has not been inspected outside its frame.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
Catalogue Note
Atul Dodiya embarked on a residency at the renowned Singapore Tyler Institute (STPI) in 2005, where he created a series of 26 mixed media on paper pulp, entitled The Wet Sleeves of My Paper Rob (Sabari in her Youth: After Nandalal Bose).
Forming the epoch between modernism and post-modernism Dodiya constructed these assemblages to hearken back to Duchamp-ian sculpture installations. The title of this series also refers directly to Nandalal Bose who was considered to be one of the pioneers of the Indian Contextual Modernism and one of Dodiya’s premier influences. Using his art to display a poetic discourse, Dodiya presents aesthetically rich pieces that provoke ideologies steeped in Indian narrative.
Dodiya is aligning his works with the story of Sabari in the Ramayana and how she has come to represent one who is waiting for God. In this epic Sabari renounces her life and becomes an ascetic, going to the mountains. There she met her guru, with whom she would sit in endless meditation, or seva. Before her guru leaves the mortal bind of the world, he tells Sabari that Lord Rama shall arrive and give her darshan, quite literally the vision of the divine. Sabari waits for Lord Rama and every morning collects berries to offer him when he arrives, whereupon meeting her, he blesses her with his vision.
Her singular devotional narrative is one that is used by Dodiya to express his symbolic story. In the Ramayana, there are combinations of icons and various allegories that lead up to the final culmination – Dodiya shows each character in this epic through these works. “We click into Dodiya’s private mythology here: the switch of synthetic hair is code for Sita; the sword stands for the demon-king Ravana. The shirt is a witness and participant of the unfolding drama, its pockets holding the various branches of Sabari’s family tree. Its versatile sleeves can spread to span Rama’s bow, or play the bloodied arms of a riot victim, or shower a rain of charred roses on Sabari.” (Atul Dodiya: The Wet Sleeves of My Paper Robe (Sabari in Her Youth: After Nandalal Bose) 2006, Exhibition Catalogue, Singapore Tyler Print Institute, Singapore, 2005, p. 13)
“Dodiya’s work may be seen as an expanded, expanding, expandable memoir: a memory precipitated across a distributed retrieval system, a ramified space of belonging that is spread wherever the work travels, in actuality or in reproduction.” (R. Hoskote, ‘Atul Dodiya: The Encyclopaedist’s Desire for the World’, Atul Dodiya, Prestel Verlag, & Vadehra Art Gallery, Munich & New Delhi, 2013, p. 74)
Forming the epoch between modernism and post-modernism Dodiya constructed these assemblages to hearken back to Duchamp-ian sculpture installations. The title of this series also refers directly to Nandalal Bose who was considered to be one of the pioneers of the Indian Contextual Modernism and one of Dodiya’s premier influences. Using his art to display a poetic discourse, Dodiya presents aesthetically rich pieces that provoke ideologies steeped in Indian narrative.
Dodiya is aligning his works with the story of Sabari in the Ramayana and how she has come to represent one who is waiting for God. In this epic Sabari renounces her life and becomes an ascetic, going to the mountains. There she met her guru, with whom she would sit in endless meditation, or seva. Before her guru leaves the mortal bind of the world, he tells Sabari that Lord Rama shall arrive and give her darshan, quite literally the vision of the divine. Sabari waits for Lord Rama and every morning collects berries to offer him when he arrives, whereupon meeting her, he blesses her with his vision.
Her singular devotional narrative is one that is used by Dodiya to express his symbolic story. In the Ramayana, there are combinations of icons and various allegories that lead up to the final culmination – Dodiya shows each character in this epic through these works. “We click into Dodiya’s private mythology here: the switch of synthetic hair is code for Sita; the sword stands for the demon-king Ravana. The shirt is a witness and participant of the unfolding drama, its pockets holding the various branches of Sabari’s family tree. Its versatile sleeves can spread to span Rama’s bow, or play the bloodied arms of a riot victim, or shower a rain of charred roses on Sabari.” (Atul Dodiya: The Wet Sleeves of My Paper Robe (Sabari in Her Youth: After Nandalal Bose) 2006, Exhibition Catalogue, Singapore Tyler Print Institute, Singapore, 2005, p. 13)
“Dodiya’s work may be seen as an expanded, expanding, expandable memoir: a memory precipitated across a distributed retrieval system, a ramified space of belonging that is spread wherever the work travels, in actuality or in reproduction.” (R. Hoskote, ‘Atul Dodiya: The Encyclopaedist’s Desire for the World’, Atul Dodiya, Prestel Verlag, & Vadehra Art Gallery, Munich & New Delhi, 2013, p. 74)