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Artist duo Jiten Thukral and Sumir Tagra use fine and commercial art,
design, production and application to blur the lines between high art
and popular culture. Their work is characteristically kitschy, yet addresses
complex issues facing India’s rapidly urbanising population. The present
lot is from a 2007 series in which they take a cheeky, irreverent jab at
consumerism. Fake mass products branded ‘Bosedk’ – a Punjabi expletive
– are marketed through these paintings and installations. Thukral
and Tagra present the products using enticing graphics, which echo
the “hollow yet seductive coercions of advertising and the blinkered
aspirations of Punjabi youth.” (Shruti Ravindran, “Beaux Mundas,”
Outlook
,
November 2008). Their work offers a light‒hearted look at the emptiness
of prevailing consumerist culture.
80
THUKRAL AND TAGRA
(b. 1976 and 1979)
Use Product Only as Directed
Signed, dated and inscribed ''USE PRODUCT ONLY AS DIRECTED'/ Jiten
Thukral/ Sumir Tagra/ THUKRAL & TAGRA/ JAN 07' (on the reverse)
2007
Acrylic and oil on canvas
72 x 72 in (182.9 x 182.9 cm)
Rs 18,00,000 ‒ 22,00,000
$ 28,575 ‒ 34,925
PUBLISHED
Peter Nagy,
Thukral and Tagra
, New Delhi: Nature Morte and New York: Bose
Pacia, 2007, p. 27
Jiten Thukral and Sumir Tagra
Image courtesy of the artists and Chatterjee & Lal