Love

A steel dinosaur fornicating with a Jaguar car. This is the work that took centre stage in Sudarshan Shetty’s 2006 exhibition Love. In this installation, Shetty makes use of two iconic symbols: the fibreglass cast of a 1972Jaguar car which is the symbol of luxury, and a relic from the past, a dinosaur, made of steel plates.

The willing car has its rear cranked up, and the dinosaur has an exaggeratedly large phallus. By adding motion Shetty makes the act of fornication something the viewer cannot avoid seeing. The work’s largeness and the visibility of its mechanical devices add to the viewer’s discomfort.