Anita Dube 2008
May 15, 2008- June 28, 2008
Reception: May 15, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
508 W 26th St
Bose Pacia presents
Anita Dube’s Recent Works. The gallery is located at 508 West 26th
Street on the 11th Floor, in the Chelsea district of New York City. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday
from 11 to 6 pm and by appointment. The artist will be in attendance at the opening reception on Thursday,
May 15th from 6 to 8 pm. The public is invited.
Working from the academic heritage of art criticism, Dube’s sculptures and photographs straddle the often
nebulous line between conceptual and artisanal productions; between the cerebral and visceral. Recent
Works presents an interesting dialogue between: Phantoms of Liberty, a suite of eight sculptural compositions
comprised of found objects wrapped in camouflage fabric; two large-scale words made of wax; and a series
of photographs of words molded out of raw meat. While each body of work has a distinct voice within the
space, they come together in an intelligent and thoughtful investigation of the aesthetics of the inside/outside
dynamic that navigates the intricacies of the access to and representation of personal and social phenomena.
In Phillippe Vergne’s 2005 Telling Times catalogue essay Dube’s work is described as having “developed an
aesthetic language that privileges sculptural fragment as a cultural bearer of personal and social memories,
history, mythologies and phenomenological experiences.” The same rings
true for her most recent body of work. Wax sculptures spell out the words love and void. There is a certain
intimacy that arises from the nearly life-sized proclamations whose molded surface tactility is both inviting yet
foreboding. The photographs document words that have been formed from raw meat. Soft lighting and
gentle placement provide a sometimes uncomfortably desirous mood as one is invited to read the images of
inside out, disorder, so near and yet so far, desperate amour, and materialist theology.
Dube’s work harkens to the space between private and public labor. Phantoms of Liberty is composed of
found household objects. These items have been meticulously wrapped in camouflage-patterned fabric. The
objects are therefore given a second skin, a protective layer, which predicates the performative act of making
personal objects public. The act of wrapping these sculptures is reminiscent of historically feminine forms of
domestic labor which have often been tied to the public repression of personal exertions. While each body of
work in the exhibition is visually distinct they all quite eloquently contribute to the conceptual gestalt of
embodying the space between personal and social labor as well as consciousness.
Anita Dube studied art criticism from the Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S. University, Baroda, India. She was involved in
the activities of the Indian Radical Painters and Sculptors Association until 1989. Dube’s recent solo exhibitions
include Galerie Almine Rech, Paris (2007), Galleryskye, Bangalore (2006), and Bose Pacia, New York (2005). Her
work has been included in many group exhibitions including Urban Manners: 15 Contemporary Artists from
India, Hangar Bicocca, Milan (2007); Bombay Maximum City, Lille300, Lille (2006); Indian Summer, Ecole des
Beaux Arts, Paris (2005); iCon: Indian Contemporary, collateral event, 51st Venice Biennale, Venice (2005); How
Latitudes Become Forms: Art in a Global Age, The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2003); 7th Havana Biennale,
Cuba (2000).
Anita Dube currently lives and works in New Delhi.
Books and DVDs related to artists in this show| Location | | | Gallery | Bose Pacia Gallery | | Address | 508 W 26th St, 11th Fl New York (Chelsea) NY, 10001 United States | | Phone | 212-989-7074 | | Fax | 212-989-6982 | | Hours | Tue-Fri 11-6, Sat 12-6 | |
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