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The present lot belongs to a series of large‒scale
works, titled “Saat Samundar Paar” (“Across the
Seven Seas”), in which Subodh Gupta addresses the
phenomenon of migration in modern times. The
airport with its ubiquitous baggage carts captured in
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SUBODH GUPTA
(b. 1964)
Sat Samunder Par (9)
Signed in Devnagari, dated and inscribed '03‒04 /
SUBODH GUPTA / SAAT SAMUNDER PAR (9)'
(on the reverse)
2003‒04
Oil on canvas
65.25 x 89.75 in (165.6 x 227.8 cm)
$ 93,750 ‒ 125,000
Rs 60,00,000 ‒ 80,00,000
EXHIBITED:
Generation ‒ i
, Mumbai: Saffronart, 4‒31 March 2004
the moment of arrival, become symbols of the worker
toiling in foreign lands to provide goods associated
with luxury to his family upon return. In these works
that employ a technique of photo‒realism, “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 us: ‘I Pack Therefore I Am.’ Poised
upon a wheeled trolley are suitcases and packages that
represent a life condensed, the most necessary objects
...” (Peter Nagy, “Transitory Indecisions and Fluctuating
Monuments”,
Subodh Gupta
, New Delhi: Nature Morte
and Mumbai: Sakshi Gallery, 2000, p. 7)
Gupta addresses the complexities of capitalism,
immigration, and the objects which define or alienate
those who return and those who remain. Unseen, but
addressed too, are those who will be the receivers of
the hard‒earned, neatly packed treats that are being so
carefully wheeled out on the baggage cart.
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