He is known as the king of cow dung, curry pots and a very hungry god. Contemporary artist Subodh Gupta’s work is well-known for tapping into the Indian middle-class psyche, employing the humble bartan (metal utensil) to create a variety of works — from the minimal to the maximal.

Now, with his show, The Way Home, opening at the Bihar Museum, Gupta is busy once again. And I say once again because, even with shows such as Inner Garden, the recent showcase in South Korea, he has kept a low profile ever since sexual harassment allegations were levelled against him in 2018 by Instagram account @herdsceneand, and he won the defamation case in 2020.

I remember the one-on-one conversations at the National Gallery of Modern Art when his installation-sculpture, Dada, was installed in 2012. We talked about how his work is inspired by his mother’s kitchen, where he played, studied, and even created early prototypes of his installations with her bartans. Today, the once jovial and accessible Gupta only responds over email, and declines to come on our group chat as I take a virtual tour of the exhibition.

The Way Home is almost like a journey and a recap. It takes us through his important works — from the large installation of Thalis to Guccha, which mimics a bouquet of flowers in a vase but is a collection of bartans. Anjani Kumar Singh, the director general of the museum who has long been a visitor at Gupta’s studio, curated the show.

Guccha installation

“We’ve had ongoing discussions about my work, and together we carefully selected the pieces for this show,” says Gupta, who is displaying 20 sculptures and a selection of paintings created between 1999 and 2024 in his home state. “The curation and display are deeply intentional and meaningful. I wanted to provide art lovers with a comprehensive look at my artistic practice.” The exhibition includes paintings, sculptures, video works, and installations.

Of personal significance

Gupta says he’s never stopped working. “Through challenging times and otherwise, I’ve continued to work consistently. Just in the past few years, post-COVID, I’ve had a number of exhibitions, including my solo in Mumbai at Nature Morte and a project at Le Bon Marché,” he says. “This particular exhibition, however, holds a unique place. After graduating from the Patna Art School, it’s my first exhibition in my hometown in 30 years. So, it feels like a return home in many ways.”

The Door installation (brass, 2007) is an eye-catcher, as is Gehri Neend (2014), depicting a large skull made of stainless steel bartans and brass vessels lying on its side. As he shared in an earlier interview with a newspaper, “Doors are continuously opening and closing. They signify possibilities, dreams and also endings. This is a central work in the show for me because it says so much.”

The Door installation | Photo Credit: Martin Argyroglo

Gehri Neend | Photo Credit: Ram Rahman

I remember seeing the first iteration of The Way Home I, in 2000. He had assembled stainless steel kitchen utensils inside a circle of silver adhesive film, and scattered country-made pistols, cast in bronze and chrome-plated, to blend in with the domestic objects. Sitting to one side of the circle was a life-size white cow, at odds with the gleaming array of silver. As Peter Nagy, co-director of Nature Morte, shared back then, “With this work, Subodh catalysed his use of objects as potent symbols of the changing political and economic landscapes of India in the early 21st century, as well as creating an opulent and seductive sculptural ensemble from a group of diverse elements.” A revised version of this — the cow and guns replaced by thalis and books to symbolise Bihar’s growing literacy — is exhibited prominently at the museum.

“Subodh is always making new works, and he has the facility to make very experimental works and see if they are successful or not. He tries many new things all the time, knowing that even if a work is not successful, he has learned something by making it. For this reason, I know he will continue to surprise us with what he makes in the future.”Peter NagyCo-director of Nature Morte

Rebuilding what is lost

While things have been troubled in the art fraternity — Gupta’s primary gallery Nature Morte, for instance, decided not to feature his work in the public forum till the case and its ramifications died down (in 2020, the Delhi High Court decreed in Gupta’s favour), and the media has not given him much publicity — he is determined to find his footing.

Two Mechanized Cows

There is Always Cinema (I)

“Subodh the artist, the husband and the father, is relentless. He is curious, and constantly persevering. He goes to work every day regardless of whatever is happening around him,” says Aparajita Jain, co-director of Nature Morte. The gallery launched their Mumbai outfit earlier this year featuring Gupta’s work titled, A small village, around the corner, up in the mountain, where viewers were encouraged to interact with his sculptures that spoke of his small-town realities. “He is dedicated to his art and getting better and opening his mind.”

Meanwhile, Gupta is already anticipating a busy 2025. He will be participating in the Uzbekistan Biennale next year, and has a project lined up in Paris.

The Way Home is on till February 15, 2025, at the Bihar Museum.

The writer is a critic-curator by day, and a visual artist by night.