KISSA KURSI KA BY GUNJAN GUPTA CURATED BY YOICHI NAKAMUTA EXHIBITION TEXT BY ANNA DOMINGUEZ SIEMENS There are the purists who insist in keeping separate the worlds of art and design. They do not think it is healthy that there is a cross pollination between the two disciplines. But it is too late to carry that flag. It is a fact that the crossover between art and design is a fertile area that grows by the day; refusing to admit the richness it brings to both realms of work would be living in denial. Perhaps the best part of this common ground where both artists and designers operate is when the work they do is linked and committed to the place where they are created. When every aspect of that culture, with its traditions, history and craftsmanship, is wisely incorporated in their works thus transforming our perception of them and opening both the eyes and the mind to a new way of looking and interpreting the beauty of things which have been there for ever but our jaded eyes have failed to see. Gunjan Gupta’s body of work makes us look twice to rediscover what was always there, mostly as part of a low popular culture that through her thinking and conceptual interpretation becomes something else. And yet it preserves that memory of the archetypes that feel familiar and make us connect with who we are and where we belong. This is mainly the achievement of this exhibition, Kissa Kursi Ka – A Chairy Tale astutely curated by Yoichi Nakamuta. It intends to confront the viewer with recognizable objects that at closer inspection will provoke awe and surprise. Gunjan Gupta does not want to have all the answers but has some certainties in which she firmly believes and which she conveys through her designs. She advocates the importance of her roots and the vale of the handmade in opposition to the industrialised processes found in other countries. Her quest for an Indian identity is relentless and yet she claims as well for a new way of doing things, one that involves observation, curiosity and a daring attitude. This is what informs the collections of thrones she has designed over the past decade shown in this exhibition. The Kissa Kursi Ka Totem Pole inaugurates the show with piled up objects that were used for sitting in India before the apparition of the chair that came with Vasco de Gama in the 15th century, a comment about the time when elevated sitting started to become common and not reserved as a power symbol. Gunjan Gupta’s first chair The Dining Throne designed in 2006, a handcrafted gold and silver throne wrapped in pure silver sheets and 24 carat gold leaf in the lost tradition of throne decoration, is reimagined 10 years later under the lens of Indian photographer Bandeep Singh into an elemental force of line and light combined poetically with the beauty of the female form. This lost heritage of crafts is contrasted by the designer in The Bicycle Throne Series through an appropriation of discarded elements that belong to everyday life towards the creation of a very symbolic seat. The Bori Sofa playfully subverts the phrase ‘Couch Potato’ into a textured installation of jute sacks stuffed with foam potatoes that are deceptively comfortable or The Do Not Handle with Care Matka Mix handcrafted in stone that plays with the notion of fragility and alters utility of the mundane form. The staple Indian mattress is rolled into The Gadda Chair and juxtaposed with a colonial cane chair for The Floating Gadda Chair, while the comfort of a mundane laundry sack becomes the backrest in The Potli Chair and the much forgotten bolster cushion takes centre stage in The Masnad Chair. The designs express as well a different way to look at luxury, a contemporary one that is far from the stagnated ideas associated with stereotypes of expensive and shiny materials. Needless to say, it is this skilful play of indigenous narratives mixed with rich crafts and cleverly incorporated street side techniques that constitute the designers unique visual identity and make her a strong voice from India within the International design arena. - Ana Dominguez Siemens, Madrid
‘KISSA KURSI KA’ HERITAGE ARTS JEW TOWN KOCHI
GOLD/SILVER DINING THRONE
Handcrafted in pure silver sheet, 24 carat gold leaf, wood - 2006
‘KHILONE WALA’ BICYCLE THRONE
Powder coated steel balls, recycled bicycle parts, upholstered foam - 2016
‘BORI WALA’ BICYCLE THRONE
Jute, foam, steel frame, recycled bicycle parts - 2016
‘MUDA WALA’ BICYCLE THRONE
Bamboo stools, steel, fabric, cane and wood - 2016
‘BARTAN WALA’ BICYCLE THRONE
Handcrafted brass vessels, tin foil, steel, recycled bicycle parts, foam, leather, wood - 2016
‘GADDA WALA’ BICYCLE THRONE
Steel, foam, silk, recycled bicycle parts - 2009
‘KAPDA WALA’ BICYCLE THRONE
Fabric, steel, recycled bicycle parts, foam, leather - 2009
ALOO BORI/COUCH POTATO
Jute, foam, steel structure - 2016
DO NOT HANDLE WITH CARE – ‘MATKA MIX’ COFFEE TABLE
Handcrafted red sandstone, copper, wood - 2014/2016
‘MASNAD’ CHAIR
Brass, linen, foam, wood - 2015
‘POTLI’ CHAIR
Wood, linen, foam - 2015
‘GADDA’ FLOATING CHAIR
Foam, linen, antique wooden structure - 2016
‘GADDA’ ROLL CHAIR
Foam, linen, steel structure - 2014
OPENING WEEK – KISSA KURSI KA DECEMBER 12TH ONWARDS
Gunjan’s work borders between design and art with the unique philosophy that captures the cultural narrative and paradoxes of India. She is India’s leading product designer and one of the emerging names on the International design circuit. Her iconic designs have been showcased at leading design fairs like Design Miami /Art Basel / Fuorisalone in Milan / Design Days Dubai where she has been noticed and collected by leading collectors, celebrities, institutional heads and design critics. Gunjan is a Masters Graduate in Design from Central Saint Martin’s College of Art & Design in London. Her efforts in repositioning the `Made in India ` brand Internationally have won her global recognition that includes several awards, notably, British Council’s Young Creative Entrepreneur in 2007 and the Designer of the year Award by Elle Decor 2012. Gunjan is a design entrepreneur who has been voted one of 5 names to watch out for in Indian luxury by the Fortune Magazine and has been featured in CNBC TV 18 Young Turks TV Series. Gunjan has been featured regularly in leading magazines in India and abroad like Wallpaper, Architectural Digest, Elle Décor, Vogue, Icon and other prestigious online platforms like L’arco Baleno and Artsy. Gunjan has showed her work at the Triennale di Milano in April 2016 as a part of Amalak – Made in Asia show, the Venice Architectural Biennale 2016 in May and the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2016. www.gunjangupta.in Instagram – gunjangupta.in Facebook - gunjanguptadesign
ABOUT THE CURATOR – YOICHI NAKAMUTA
Yoichi Nakamuta is an independent editor, producer and curator or art and design. Nakamuta’s career in design editing and production came to fruition when he founded design production company E&Y in 1985. For the next 30 years, E&Y produced award winning designs by internationals designers such as Tom Dixon, Michael Young, Christophe Pillet, Jean-Marie Massaud, Richard Hutten, CKR and other contemporary European and Japanese designers. Nakamuta’s international achievements as producer include Marc Newson Milan exhibition in 1990, followed not long after with a Nakamuta produced design exhibitions in Milan for companies such as MUJI 2003 , Lexus /Tokujin Yoshioka, Nendo in 2005,2007. After Nakamuta moved to Singapore , Nakamuta set up design production company, industry+ to promote Asian design, also he curated the exhibition ‘Alchemists’ at Triennale di Milano /Singapore Art Museum, 2016 ‘alamak!’ at the XXI Triennale International Exhibition 2016. The alamak! exhibition brought together 12 top design talents from Asia to make a Contemporary impression on our perception of what is ‘Art & Design in Asia’; in response by the curator to the theme 21st century. In 2017, alamak! project will be traveling to Berlin, London and Venice Art Biennale. He is based in Tokyo / Taipei / Singapore.