Lot 1019: SHILPA GUPTA (B. 1976)

SHILPA GUPTA (B. 1976)
Blame
interactive installation
comprising plastic bottles with red liquid (simulating blood: water, sugar, food coloring, vinegar); a certificate of authenticity and DVD film of the artist enacting the conceptual framework of Blame (signed DVD)
overall installation 134 x 118 x 51 in. (340 x 300 x 130 cm.) (variable)
executed in 2002 - 2006; number three from an edition of five

Australia, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Edge of Desire: Recent Art in India, September 2004 - January 2005; New York, Asia Society and Queens Museum of Art, March - June 2005; Mexico City, Tamayo Museum, August - November 2005; Monterrey, Museum of Contemporary Art (MARCO), January - April 2006; New Delhi, National Gallery of Modern Art, 2006; Mumbai, National Gallery of Modern Art, 2006
New York, Bose Pacia, Shilpa Gupta: Recent Works, May 2006
New Delhi, Apeejay Media Gallery, Shilpa Gupta: Recent Works, February 2007
New Delhi, Devi Art Foundation, Where in the World, December 2008 - May 2009

C. Sambrani, Edge of Desire: Recent Art in India, Exhibition Catalogue, Asia Society, London, 2007, pp. 84 - 85 (illustrated)
Shilpa Gupta: Recent Works, Exhibition Catalogue, Bose Pacia, New York, 2006, pp. 56 - 59 (illustrated)
Shilpa Gupta: Recent Works, Exhibition Catalogue, Apeejay Media Gallery, 2007, (illustrated, unpaginated)
J. Neutres, New Delhi New Wave, Bologna, 2007, pp. 162 - 163 (illustrated)
Where in the World, Exhibition Catalogue, Devi Art Foundation, New Delhi, 2008, pp. 66 - 67 (illustrated)

"Shilpa Gupta has produced several works titled Blame: an interaction with commuters on a Mumbai local train; a video of that interaction; an installation, seen here; a website; and posters and stickers bearing the slogan 'Blaming You Makes Me Feel So Good,' pasted in public places.
Shilpa produced this work in the tense days after the post-Godhra riots. Posing as a hawker on Mumbai's local trains, the artist tried to sell bottles of red liquid Blame, which she promoted as a cheap, miraculously effective quick-fix for the psyche. As she explains, blaming people for belonging to a particular race or religion - inherited characteristics that are beyond their control - justifies their slaughter. Blaming others makes the blamer feel blameless.
There is a sharp parody in Shilpa's use of a quotidian situation, where housewives might buy stain removers, to sell bottles of Blame. Shilpa shows us the cultural sanctioning of violence, which is derived not from extraordinary circumstances but is inscribed within the normal everyday of our lives." (R. Biswal, Where in the World, Exhibition Catalogue, Devi Art Foundation, New Delhi, December 2008-May 2009, p. 66)

This work requires the construction of a white-walled enclosure with shelves and lighting, as per installation instructions supplied by the artist.