7000 Museums: A Project For The Republic Of India 7000 Museums: A Project For The Republic Of India - Installation view

7000 Museums: A Project For The Republic Of India is comprised of a comprehensive body of artworks, with oil paintings, water colours and sculptural assemblages. The works evoke a layered dialogue with varied conceptual frameworks from the Museum’s collection, as they reference defining moments of history, art history as well as the semantics of museums and museum displays. In the vitrines Atul assembles an encyclopaedic vision of potentialities. Mythical figures take on a contemporary characterisation invoking the theatrical models and dioramas in the Museum. They nudge painterly references from Tagore, films and great artists Atul admires, images from a personal history, or the popular kitsch that abounds in Mumbai’s markets. In an inspired binary juxtaposition Atul paints the poems of Arun Kolatkar on the reverse of the vitrines, inscribing a sharp edge into the playfulness, an act that reflects the city itself built as it is on loss and hope.