When art makes you laugh
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Blatant humour in art exhibitions was hardly thought of, till Atul Dodiya made a beginning.
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DON'T MIND Atul Dodiya's "Unmerry Emperor".
Senior artist Bhupen Khakhar dared to bring witticism and humour to his creations, be it through serious subjects like gay acceptance or westernised upper middle class Indian youth. Amit Ambalal bunch of monkeys on the canvas delighted viewers. Young Neeraj Bakshi's minimalist works featuring a black and pink cat or elephant evoked a smile more than once. Dibyentu Bhadra's jokers made their way even to Kapil Dev's residence. Shahid Parvez from Udaipur has claimed international fame with funny characters in his creations. So has Vandana Rakesh, who made news some time back with her fun-filled `subjects' on the canvas.
But, all these artists have been a little unfortunate, except Khakar and Ambalal, as the element of humour in their creations hardly got a huge solo show. The reasons being the apprehension among the galleries and the buyers about accepting it as `art'. Atul Dodiya has proved lucky with the "risk" that he took in his latest works of oil on sun mica mounted at Vadehra Art Gallery.
He not only has dared to go beyond the obvious `fun' through the inclusion of flashback technique, but also has turned them into kitsch. So, the exhibition of 24 huge works, `Scenes of Marriage', has everything that one can think of: history, geography, politics, media, cinema, art, billboards, tribute, nostalgia and a lot more - all indicating marital relationships. Being `kitsch' in nature, they are multi-layered, multicoloured, and blend many thoughts together, albeit through elements of fun and humour.
A different Bindu
For instance, in Bindu he symbolises S.H. Raza's famous work with a black ring at the centre, while Bollywood's vamp of yesteryear, Bindu, in her `vampish' costumes in different films appears inside several `bindus'. On one side of this laminated board appears a woman applying a `saubhagya' kumkum mark, while the rest of it is littered with red bindis!
Similarly, in his Unmerry Monarch, yesteryear's famous film actor Rehman appears in his usual `irate' mood (taken from the film "Sahib, Bibi Aur Ghulam") along with a montage of King Max Million II of Bavaria, which informs us, "he never smiled in his lifetime". Both the images are set against a colourful dragon passing through the images. A portrait of a man, called Jeevan Chaya, with his 17th and 18th wife, is set against a billboard declaring `Incredible India'Says 48-year-old Atul, "I initially thought of doing a serious exhibition on marriage with several experiences. But later I thought it would be too personal. So I decided to bring in an element of humour. I have tried to compare and contrast marriages in old times and modern times. If yesterday's marriages were peaceful, today's marriages are driven by ambition and convenience. A vamp like Bindu in films wasn't thought of as marriage material, as Rehman's on screen marriage was always on the rocks, and so on."Though, Atul is `accepted' in the art fraternity for this kind of work, he, nonetheless, was apprehensive. "I wouldn't have done it 10 years ago. Today there is awareness and openness among people to look at art beyond just a classic decoration item on the wall," he reasons. The exhibition is on till March 23.
RANA SIDDIQUI
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