Museum of the Mundane
Celebrated French conceptualist artist Marcel Duchamp’s works were known for elevating banal, ready-made, mass produced objects into objects or subjects of high art. Much like Duchamp, contemporary Indian artist Subodh Gupta’s artworks look at mundane, everyday objects with a new light, thus lending these prosaic objects with an unexpected force of life. Born in Patna, Gupta’s artwork and installations can be seen as museums in themselves that reflect nor just the trajectory of physical objects but their metaphysical journeys that reveal deep insights into the socio-political and cultural landscape of Bihar and its people.
Speaking to Outlook’s Rakhi Bose, Gupta explains how mundane objects, when removed from their original context of the everyday and placed within the sacred confines of a museum or art gallery, assume a new character and command the respect that they were hitherto denied. “We need more museums in the country for the common people to access art and more museums that look at common objects as works of art or heritage,” Gupta states.
Gupta was part of Outlook’s first edition of panel discussions on the preservation and democratisation of museums and the art of everyday at Mumbai’s NGMA on June 4 and was also present at the second edition of similar discussions, held at Delhi’s Bikaner House on June 24. The discussions are part of Outlook’s collaboration with Bihar Museum Biennale, whose second edition is set to open in August this year.
Celebrated French conceptualist artist Marcel Duchamp’s works were known for elevating banal, ready-made, mass produced objects into objects or subjects of high art. Much like Duchamp, contemporary Indian artist Subodh Gupta’s artworks look at mundane, everyday objects with a new light, thus lending these prosaic objects with an unexpected force of life. Born in Patna, Gupta’s artwork and installations can be seen as museums in themselves that reflect nor just the trajectory of physical objects but their metaphysical journeys that reveal deep insights into the socio-political and cultural landscape of Bihar and its people.
Speaking to Outlook’s Rakhi Bose, Gupta explains how mundane objects, when removed from their original context of the everyday and placed within the sacred confines of a museum or art gallery, assume a new character and command the respect that they were hitherto denied. “We need more museums in the country for the common people to access art and more museums that look at common objects as works of art or heritage,” Gupta states.
Gupta was part of Outlook’s first edition of panel discussions on the preservation and democratisation of museums and the art of everyday at Mumbai’s NGMA on June 4 and was also present at the second edition of similar discussions, held at Delhi’s Bikaner House on June 24. The discussions are part of Outlook’s collaboration with Bihar Museum Biennale, whose second edition is set to open in August this year.
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