JEHANGIR NICHOLSON ART FOUNDATION
Anju and Atul Dodiya talked about their craft, the various influences on their artistic practice and subtle ways in which each has impacted the other's work. Their presentations provided us with another perspective on the exhibition "The Journey is the Destination" of which their work is a part.
Atul Dodiya was born in 1959 in Bombay and is recognised as a leader to the younger generation of artists. His unique style makes use of versatile mediums, and often reference various stages in art history, popular visual culture, advertising billboards, nationalist symbols, and cinema, creating layered metaphors. He graduated from the J.J. School of Art in 1982 and the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris in 1992.
Dodiya has exhibited in more than twenty solo shows both in India and internationally including a mid-career retrospective at Japan Foundation Asia Centre (Tokyo, 2001), Reina Sofia Museum (Madrid, 2002), and at the Contemporary Arts Centre (Cincinnati, 2013).
Among his popular works is a self-portrait from the mid 1990s, where he depicted himself as James Bond, and where his dark glasses reflect images of two of his inspirational artists, Bhupen Kharkhar and David Hockney. In 1999, Dodiya dedicated an entire exhibition to Mahatma Gandhi titled ‘An Artist of Non-Violence’, where he interpreted Gandhi’s life with regard to the conceptual art movement.
His use of diverse materials started in 2000, when he began to paint on roller shutters. The shutters signified the binary relationship between inside and outside worlds, and were an interactive experience, as the viewer had to roll them up and down. Dodiya returned to watercolours with the very expressive ‘Tearscape’ series done in 2001, and in 2003, he created ‘Museum Closets’ with various paraphernalia representing the political and emotional texture of India.
Throughout his career, Dodiya has been the recipient of several awards as well as a fellowship. His most recent recognition was the GQ Man of the Year award in 2009. He was awarded the gold medal from the Maharashtra Government in 1982 and a Fellowship at the J.J. School of Art in 1983. He also received a French Government Scholarship (1991), the Sanskriti Award (1995), the Sotheby’s Prize (1999), and the Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship (Italy, 1999).
Dodiya is represented in several private and public collections all around the world, including the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi and Bombay; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), Tasmania; Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; Tate Modern, London; and Centre Pompidou, Paris.
Dodiya lives and works in Bombay.
Anju Dodiya was born in Bombay in 1964. She graduated from the J.J. School of Art in 1986 with a BFA in Painting.
Dodiya’s early works were abstract, but following her first show, ‘A Fictional Autobiography,’ she tried to refocus her gaze on railway stations, roadside scenes and so forth. Ultimately, however, she found her original impulse of a painterly introspection as her strongest inspiration and re-channelled her vision into describing situations from her own life.
She creates expressive watercolours layered with images and symbolism. Rooted in the figurative, Dodiya draws inspiration from a range of artists including poet Sylvia Plath, filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, and early Renaissance masters Piero della Francesca and Giotto. Bold patterns and vivid colours of medieval French tapestries and Japanese woodblock prints also influence her works. Often autobiographical, her works reveal her interest in self-reflection and the process of self-discovery. Dodiya does this primarily through painting, however, has also created intricate installations involving embroidered mattresses and shards of broken mirror.
The majority of her works allow the viewer to visualise the private thoughts and moments which someone experiences when they are alone. Dodiya’s self is a recurring theme in each context. These are inward looking investigations with a keen sense of self-awareness. Her works compel the viewer to unravel stories of the female protagonists, yet they don’t reveal the full narrative. Dodiya also creates her own legends that are often self-disruptive autobiographies.
Dodiya’s works have been exhibited both in India and internationally, including the Frieze international art fair, Art Basel, and India Art Fair. She also has numerous works in private and public collections including the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi; Chemould Prescott Road, Bombay; and the Art Institute of Chicago. Dodiya has also been the recipient of a number of awards such as the Zee Existence Award (2007); the Reliance India Art Exhibition Award for Harmony (1999); and she was nominated twice for the Sotheby’s Prize for Contemporary Art (1998, 2000). She lives and works in Bombay.
