Matters culinary are currently pervading Hauser & Wirth Somerset with many of the gallery spaces of this former farm filled with a multitude of well-used cooking pots courtesy of New Delhi based artist Subodh Gupta. In one room discarded metal vessels have been crushed into square panels interwoven with vivid scraps of Indian fabric. In another room the shape of a giant pot is formed by a multitude of suspended aluminum pots and pans, which the artist describes as being “like a galaxy”. Many of the vessels bear the traces of meals long past, carrying as much history and information as “a palm reading”, Gupta says. The artist also confided that he has photographed the flame-blackened undersides of many of these kitchen utensils and used the enlarged images as the starting point for a series of new paintings.
The gastronomic theme extends to the next two days being designated an “Indian Feast Weekend”, marked by a special (and scrumptious) “Subodh’s Selection” menu at the Roth Bar & Grill—the gallery’s onsite restaurant. The menu will feature a variety of pakoras, curries and a sublime rose and cardamom ice cream. But before things become too sybaritic, Gupta also marked his first show at H&W’s West Country outpost with a ritualised woodcutting, which the artist describes as “the first act of human labour.” According to Gupta, last night’s (11 February) ritual, in which guests were also invited to take part, functioned as a firm reminder of mankind’s destructive powers and capacity for unbridled excess that is now jeopardising the existence of us all. “We destroy something in order to create warmth and comfort” he declared, “but there is no calculation of what we need against what we consume—we don't really know what we are doing.” And a bit of axe-swinging also worked up a good appetite for dinner...
