Bharti Kher

Acquired from Bose Pacia, New York

in good condition, undulation to lower left bindi, minor areas of lifting to some of the other bindis, minor surface abrasions and specks of dirt, as viewed
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Bharti Kher’s appropriation of the bindi has relegated it to the status of icon, an instantly recognizable symbol of and for the artist. Through this process, Kher’s bindi has become a further symbol of the power of transformation, and can be found not only in her flatworks but also on the surfaces of her epic and dreamlike sculptures, murals and installations.

Ranjit Hoskote explains: “Kher’s interest in [the bindi] and the social practice it signified, combined with her aesthetic delight, led her to think of how best she could employ it in her work: conceptually, she was struck by the synchronized, pan-Indian choreography by which millions of women prepare for their day with the same gesture, that of applying bindi to their foreheads; she also saw through eyes attuned to Op Art, Pop Art and Minimalism, the paintings of Lichtenstein and Polke, that different arrays of bindis could essay the renewal of a social abstraction in an ethos where the abstract has been primarily the domain of the mystically inclined or those approaching transcendence from the launch-pad of the landscape … ” (R. Hoskote, “The Pursuit of Extreme Propositions: Recent works by Bharti Kher,” Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, p. 16).