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24 Subodh Gupta b. 1964 One of India's best known contemporary artists, Subodh Gupta lives and works in New Delhi. His first passions were film and performing arts, before studying visual arts. In 1983 he studied at the College of Arts in Patna while working part time as a newspaper graphic designer and illustrator. Soon after, he was awarded a scholarship by a government-run initiative, which offered a place in the Garhi Studios. His monumental installations have been exhibited in New York, Victoria & Albert Museum in London, Beijing, Tokyo and the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi. Gupta's fascination with domestic objects began in his childhood. The artist recounts the story of what a special experience it was for him when new stainless-steel tableware was introduced to his childhood home. In this installation, the cumulative effect of the wares' shimmering surfaces provoke associations of opulence, surplus and mass consumption. The mass- produced objects that play such a prominent role in his art offer an ambiguous symbolism. When Soak Becomes Spill is a work that reflects the core of Subodh Gupta's practice, transforming everyday objects into dramatic large-scale installations. He claims to 'steal from the drama of Hindu life', using everyday objects to illustrate universal themes of productivity, consumerism, wastage and the damage this causes to our fragile world. Here he re-imagines the water bucket as a colossus, no longer a vessel for water, but overflowing with hundreds of small everyday utensils and vessels. This transformation enacts a reversal of our traditional relationship to these items. Rather than holding them, using them or filling them - the items are stripped of their straightforward or utilitarian purpose. When Soak Becomes Spill, 2008 Stainless steel 600 x 300 cm Courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth www.hauserwirth.com When Soak becomes Spill, is filled with shiny vessels which reminds us of jewels; these shiny utensils may seem attractive, but might their emptiness point to the poverty of a consumer society?