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Auction PR Publicity Announcements News and Information

Indian Artists Featured in Sotheby’s Spring Sales of Contemporary Art

New York, NY – On May 14-15, 2008, Sotheby’s will feature the work of a number of renowned Indian artists in its spring sales of Contemporary Art in New York. Highlighting the sales are works by Subodh Gupta, Anish Kapoor, Rameshwar Broota, T.V. Santosh, Chintan Upadhyay, Riyas Komu, Raqib Shaw and Bose Krishnamachari. In October 2007, Sotheby’s set a record for any Indian work of art sold at auction when Raqib Shaw’s Garden of Earthly Delights III sold for $5.4 million (over £2.7 million) in its Contemporary Evening Art sale in London (£400/600,000).

Following the strong price achieved for Subodh Gupta’s work in The (RED) Auction in February 2008 ($462,000), Sotheby’s will offer another work by Gupta, one of the most important Contemporary artists to emerge from India in a generation, in its Evening sale of Contemporary Art in New York. Saat Samunder Paar VII, 2003, comes from a series the artist completed in 2003 entitled Saar samundar paar, or “Across the Seven Seas” (pictured above, est. $500/700,000*). In these works, Subodh depicts scenes from bustling airports, thereby tapping into a theme central to his entire oeuvre: main’s experience in contemporary society. Evoking a Hindi idiom referring to the distance one should travel in the search for happiness or the distance travelers come to reach India, the title realizes new significance in the context of the 21st century. In the present work, Subodh’s iconic luggage-packed trolley takes center stage, while the figures in the background remain conspicuously inconspicuous, softly fading into the background as anonymous foils to the colorful star of composition. Here, man is subordinate to the gleaming idol of luggage, painted crispy, bright and precisely detailed. The artist’s critique is multi-faceted referencing myriad contemporary themes including the effects of capitalism, globalization, media dependency, pop-idolatry, the collision of tradition with modernity and ultimately, man’s self-awareness. A sculpture by Gupta, Untitled, 2006, will also be included in the Day sale (est. $80/120,000).

Highlighting offering of works by Contemporary Indian artists in the Day sale of Contemporary Art will be Anish Kapoor’s lacquered bronze sculpture Blood Solid, 2001 (pictured here, $250/350,000). Sotheby’s set a record for a work by Kapoor at auction in its last evening sale of Contemporary Art (November 2007) when it sold an Untitled work for $2.8 million.

Other Day sale highlights will include Rameshwar Broota’s Shabash Bete, 2007 (pictured on page 3, est. $200/300,000); T.V. Santosh’s Test II, 2005 (est. $60/80,000); Chintan Upadhyay’s Smart Alec, 2007 (est. $40/60,000); Riyas Komu’s Systematic Citizen XIV, 2006 (est. $40/60,000); Raquib Shaw’s Untitled, 2004 (est. $40/60,000); and Bose Krishnamachari’s Untitled (Stretched Bones), circa 2006 (est. $20/30,000).

The sale also features a stunning work by Pakistan’s leading contemporary artist Rashid Rana, Red Carpet-1, 2007 (est. $100/150,000). Working in photomontage, Rashid culls his ideas and images from a variety of sources. He uses carefully selected angles to photograph his subjects and then combines multiple images to create skillfully constructed compositions that belie the inherent three-dimensionality of their component images. Here, as elsewhere in the artist’s work, the juxtaposition of the beautiful with the macabre makes a powerful statement, forcing the viewer to acknowledge of the politics of the work and ultimately engulfs the viewer with its scope and scale.
Pictured above: Rameshwar Broota’s Shabash Bete, 2007 (est. $200/300,000)
*Estimates do not include buyer’s premium