Osian's Auction Catalogue Indian Modern and Contemporary Art | March 2008

138 109 Subodh Gupta (b.1964) Untitled S/d in English, l.r. Oil on canvas, 2005 31.0 x 38.0 in (78.7 x 96.5 cm) INR 4,000,000 – 5,200,000 USD 100,000 – 130,000 ‘Gupta paints…the precious cargo that accompanies the passenger. The paintings themselves present a synthesis of schools: a Pop or Photo- Realist Style is used to depict objects that harbour Surrealist tendencies, a Conceptualist pedigree and fomalist’s combination of materials. The people and backgrounds are rendered in a blocky, two-dimensional shorthand while only the objects of Gupta’s ultimate interest, the trolleys with luggage are fleshed out completely, painted in a realistic manner. As if to say we are nothing more than the commodities we drag around with us: “I Pack Therefore I Am.”…a package hoisted upon the luggage rack of a taxi connotes not only tourism and the economy of its infrastructure but also the flight abroad of families and their eventual, perhaps only temporary return of India. This focus on the Indian who emigrates to another country is a recurring theme in the popular cinema and those who do so and gain success in their respective fields are publicly celebrated as still belonging to India and lauded as its finest exports.’ Peter Nagy rpt. in Subodh Gupta Bodhi Art ExC. 2006.