Subodh Gupta

The Jack Shainman Gallery is proud to present its first exhibition of work by Subodh Gupta, I Go Home Every Single Day. Gupta, who lives and works in New Delhi, India, will be presenting a group of large cast bronze and aluminum sculptures that highlight the frission between traditional rural life in India and the pressures of globalization which are transforming the daily lives of people throughout the sub-continent. The centerpiece of the exhibition is the sculpture “Everything Is Inside,” comprised of the upper half of a real Indian taxi-cab and two large parcels bound with rope and bulging with strain of the goods inside upon the cab’s luggage rack. These parcels, cast in bronze, are symbols for Gupta of the migratory global economy in which thousands of Indian workers participate every day. Traveling abroad–often to the Gulf States–where they work in cramped quarters, these workers proudly return home after months of slaving away with their possessions bound in satchels or cardboard boxes. These bundles also take center stage in the work “Vehicle for Seven Seas,” two bronze airport luggage carriers holding large cast aluminum bundles. As the works’ title indicates Gupta here assumes the voice of an Indian everyman, speaking to the reality of the average worker in the increasingly competitive global marketplace. In contrast to these symbols of India’s presence in the world economy Gupta will also present works which are symbols of the rapidly disappearing traditional village life as his country moves to a more homogenized and urban existence. The exhibition will include an oversized stainless steel bucket used for water collection, a group of bamboo canes cast in aluminum and a group of bronze and aluminum Cow-Dung Cakes. Gupta has said, about these works, that he enjoys their absurdity and density, as well as their ability to become a bridge between Eastern and Western cultural traditions. Solo exhibitions include “I Go Home Every Single Day,” The Showroom Gallery, London, 2004; and “Edge of Desire,” Nature Morte, New Delhi, 2003. Gupta is currently included in “Universal Experience: Art, Life, and the Tourist’s Eye,” Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL; the Moscow Biennial of Contemporary Art; and “Edge of Desire-Recent Art in India,” Asia Society, New York, NY.

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Subodh Gupta "I GO HOME EVERY SINGLE DAY"