HAVE I EVER OPPOSED YOU? NEW ART FROM INDIA AND PAKISTAN
18 March – 22 May 2010

Abir Karmakar (b. 1977, India)

Within The Walls I 2008, triptych, oil on canvas, each panel 183 x 122, total dimensions 183 x 366 cm

Abir Karmakar paints himself as protagonist in the guise of a male Venus or reclining odalisque, voluptuously sprawled on plumped up cushions. Historically, Indian TV and film lacked any frank depiction of sex, until recently even kissing scenes were taboo. The distribution and publication of pornography is illegal. Homosexual intercourse between consenting adults was only decriminalized in July 2009 and is still a largely taboo subject in society.

Karmakar's man-woman is an androgynous double, in which the male body becomes seductively feminine. At times his 'other self', magnified and informed by a steep perspective, appears virtually to overtake the confines of the canvas. He peers intimidatingly down at the viewer, acknowledging and inviting our gaze. At other times, Karmakar is crouched, crossed-legged on the floor like a small petulant child, or is seen tentatively retreating through a doorway. Implicit throughout is a complex and at times predatory sense of voyeurism.

The artist was born in Sliguri and now lives in Baroda. Amongst his recent solo exhibitions are Within the Walls, Gallery Espace, New Delhi and Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke, Mumbai (2008), In The Old Fashioned Way, Aicon Gallery, London (2007), and Interiors, Galerie Heike Curtze, Berlin (2006). Recent group shows include ‘Shifting Shapes – Unstable Signs’ curated by Robert Storr and Jaret Vadera at the Yale University School of Art (2009), ARCO_Madrid (2009), and ‘Mutant Beauty’ curated by Gayatri Sinha, Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi (2009).