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SUNIL GAWDE - Sour Ambrosia
Galerie Rabouan Moussion
october 30 – december 30 2012
Sunil GAWDE lives and works in Mumbai, India.
Venice Biennale 2009
Centre Georges Pompidou, «Paris-Delhi-Bombay»
« Finding India : art for the new century », MOCA, Taipei.
Sunil Gawde’s works have a technical precision and sophistication that the artist understands
as necessary to the creation of his elaborate works. While Gawde does say “perfection
is important” to him, while “prettiness is not,” the beauty in his works lies in the fact
that they come from a place to which most viewers can relate.
Starting from an ideal vision of the installation in mind, Gawde works with a set of unique
materials and he approaches each work with his own set of philosophies that revolve
around ideas of duality and perception.
For instance, his work “Virtually Untouchable III” takes the form of garlands that are usually
a symbol of respect and worship in India. Gawde adds a deadly edge to this adulation by
meticulously constructing each garland with sharp razor blades.
While his work does draw from several visuals in daily life, Gawde is able to add a surreal
twist to the ordinary, by working on ideas that come from his internal thought process
rather than any particular outside impetus. Clarity dawns after turmoil, after things are
seen at their extreme. The wrong place can still be the right time.
Like in love perhaps 2011
wood, real nails and decorative roses, 274 x 198 x 198 cm

Sour Ambrosia
Ambrosia is an ancient seductive fantasy. That desire fulfilled will lead to enormous happiness is an enduring hope. Disappointment and
experience seem irrelevant against it.
Ancient and respected practices can be misused or twisted in service of cruel agendas. Tradition is nourishing, alive, and constricting. Awareness
is therefore paramount. The form illustrates, decodes and peels the multiple layers of mind. It surfaces that which is beyond frontiers,
the enduring nature of common humanity. The captivating glamour of surface persists. To dazzle may also be an act of concealment; context
is imperative but boundaries are to be expected and acknowledged.
Ascent may cover painful passages; to rise has often been confused with success; making sense of deeper reality is needed – and overlooked
in the inviting rosy red carpet anticipation. Secreted within the mind, are the tensions inherent in interactions; the fragile beauty that is
hard, transient like love, the need to possess strives with the longing to be free.
Many facets of life seem to be guided by fortune, loss in the midst of gain, beneficial outcomes lurk in harsh circumstances. Clarity dawns
after turmoil, after things are seen at their extreme. The wrong place can still be the right time. What is unseen remains unexpected reality,
filling life with value that does not allure; it stabilizes you and moves on, usually unacknowledged.
Perhaps that is sufficient: it could count as triumph: even as happiness.
Usha & Sunil Gawde
SUNIL GAWDE - Virtually Untouchable III, 2007
Razor blades, decorative roses and wooden chair
3 garlands of 170 x 20 x 11 cm
Chair 90 x 50 x 50 cm