Lot 18: Sorry Does Not Make Any Difference I

Chintan Upadhyay (B. 1972)
Sorry Does Not Make Any Difference I
signed and dated 'Chintan 2006' (on the reverse); signed and inscribed 'Chintan Upadhyay Unlimited 'Sorry Does Not Make Any Difference' Acrylic and Oil on Canvas' (on the reverse)
acrylic and oil on canvas
59½ x 60¼in. (151 x 152.5cm.)
Painted in 2006

London, Grosvenor Vadehra Gallery, Indian Art III/III Here and Now: Young Voices from India , 15 February - 11 March 2007.

Chintan Upadhyay melds Indian miniature techniques and iconography from his birthplace in Rajasthan with contemporary computer programming tools including Photoshop and Poser. Fascinated by the relationships created in juxtaposing disparate objects, Upadhyay explores the dualities of today's world recently embarking on a series of work which examines cloning and mass consumerism. In this work, entitled Sorry Does Not Make Any Difference , the artist depicts the disembodied head of a baby coated with imagery from Rajasthani miniature paintings. Upadhyay's stylistic tendencies are as digital as they are painterly and he expertly uses them in this painting, ironically replacing the innocent and appealing quality of infants with a disquieting and sinister one. Explaining the use of traditional Indian imagery as a "second skin" of sorts, Upadhyay states "I remove the narrative context of the miniature and it becomes a skin or body suit. I rip elements of the miniature out of the original and create a mould. So originality, which is lost, is also being questioned." Playing with media, Upadhyay mixes disparate cultures and styles similar to the way a DJ fuses songs. "I'm trying to create a new way of understanding new media positions but it is short-sighted to see video and installation art as contemporary and to see painting as an older form." (Ananya Sen, "Clones might take god's place", DNA India , 13 January 2006, www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1007338)