A special preview of the first solo in Italy by Shilpa Gupta for for Investartindia readers.

Galleria Continua is pleased to showcase ‘Second Moon’. It the first solo show in Italy by leading artist Shilpa Gupta. The works in the show communicate a dual message. On the one hand they give voice to the hidden desires, the fantasies and the hopes of the human race, which help people to face life with a positive and optimistic attitude. On the other, they reveal how these impulses are, at the same time, deceptive illusions that condemn us to look at the past with a certain regret, in that there is no effective possibility of a better future.

The slow flashing on and off of a string of small lights that stand out above the stage, spelling out the words BlindStars StarsBlind, evoke a piercing sense of melancholy: beauty and power, frailty and impermanence seem to be the keynotes of our existence. Expectations and dreams are the themes of another work in the show, I Have Many Dreams. This consists of a series of photos of young, fashionably dressed girls together with a sound element, the voice of the artist asking them what they want to do when they grow up. The girls respond, after which the artist once again asks: “And if you weren’t able to achieve that goal, what would your second choice be?” And so on, lots of times.

Expectations are not always fulfilled and capitalist society, which Gupta observes with suspicion, may result in extreme forms of individualism and closure, as emerges in another photographic work. This message appears with greater intensity in ‘Tryst with Destiny’, in which she dwells on broader historic and national considerations. A voice can be heard from a solitary microphone. It is the artist’s who, in a mournful tone suffused at times with despair, reads the speech given by Jawaharlal Nehru, the first President of India, on the occasion of the Declaration of Independence in 1947. That was a moment of hope, while Tryst with Destiny is just a microphone, an instrument stripped of its function and with no listeners.

The theme of the recovery of memory, or rather, of memory as an unconscious element that runs through our lives and determines, for better or worse, our actions, also recurs in Memory II, an imposing cement sculpture standing outside the gallery.

‘Second Moon’ also touches on other themes key in the artist’s practise: that of control, for instance, and the security systems that regulate and condition our daily lives. Then there is the presence, deliberately ignored or unmentioned, of a social substrata that has emerged in the wake of the new global economy – new classes that still lack a clear identity and position, are forced to live on the margins of society and represent a source of potential, unexploded violence. This theme is hinted at in Untitled (Heat Panels), a large wall work realized by the artist specifically for the Arco dei Becci space and which rounds off the show.

‘Second Moon’ conintues at the venue Via del Castello 11 and Via Arco dei Becci 1, until May 2, 2009.

(Image courtsey: Galleria Continua)

Watch the ‘Second Moon’ rising http://www.galleriacontinua.com/english/mostra.html?id_mostra=147&lang=e&selectedIndex=1