Shilpa Gupta featured at 'Luther and the Avant-Garde' Exhibition in Kassel for Documenta 14

11.06.2017

We are very pleased to present two stunning pieces by Shilpa Gupta at the "Luther and the Avant Garde" exhibition in Kassel during Documenta 14.  The Tiroche DeLeon Collection believes Shilpa Gupta is one of India’s most outstanding contemporary artists and has a long tradition of collecting her works.

Gupta's impressive piece titled "I Keep Falling at you" (2009) investigates the power of language in the digital age. This piece was made as a site specific installation for Shilpa's solo exhibition at the Blandy Castle in France in 2010 and was acquired by the Tiroche DeLeon Collection in 2011. Ever since, the piece has been exhibited extensively in major museums around the world.

Shilpa Gupta, I Keep Falling at You, 2009

"I Keep Falling at You" appears like a vast swarm of bees, thousands of microphones are suspended from the ceiling, whispering and singing in a disorientating cacophony. The visitor is thus exposed to the omnipotence of this cloud of words, which is both threatening and alluring in equal measure. Under scrutiny here is the ambivalent seductive potential of words - a theme of central importance not only to people of faith.

"I am interested in perception and therefore, with how definitions get stretched or trespassed, be it beliefs or the notion of a state. There exists a chasm between the larger construct which seeks singularity, and its own fragment which may not. This is a large amoebic shaped form suspended from the ceiling, the skin of which is made out of thousands of microphones. In a moment of hysteria, there has been a reversal and the microphones are whispering and singing."                                                                                                                                                                                                   - Shilpa Gupta

The second work displayed at the Karlskirche in Kassel is "Heat Book" (2009) an anonymous book, untitled, nameless, faceless lies on a sacramental pedestal. Years of imbibed knowledge within these pages become reasons for incitement. Made of carbonized mild steel, the book sits on a wooden pedestal containing a heating element, emitting warmth and light.

Shilpa Gupta, Heat Book, 2009

This magnificent piece was acquired by the Tiroche DeLeon Collection in 2012 along with two other works, "Blind Stars Stars Blind" (2008) and "01:14.9" (2012).

"Luther and the Avant-Garde" is on view until September 17, 2017.

Karlskirche Kessel