Induced Epidemic (2007) by Ashutosh BhardwajSan José Museum of Art
Ashutosh Bhardwaj responds to the contemporary, cosmopolitan nature of urban India in his paintings. Based in Vadodara(formerly Baroda) in India, he deploys mass media imagery as metaphors to highlight how news and commercial media sources have been transformed into mouthpieces.
In the early 1990s, economic reforms opened India’s markets to the influence and products of other countries. In Induced Epidemic (2007), Bhardwaj critiques the subsequent rise of the cosmetics industry—a by-product of the liberalization of the Indian economy—
and the Indian public's rapidly changing values as they embraced global consumerism and the media industry.
Bhardwaj’s painting is presented on three panels that total 96 by 180 inches. Its epic, mural-like proportion creates an immersive experience as the viewer stands among the outstretched hands.
Detail Image of Induced Pandemic (2007) by Ashutosh BhardwajSan José Museum of Art
Disembodied hands reach upward towards a blue pincer-like tool, which remains out of reach. To Bhardwaj, the crowd represents the desire for consumer goods and a homogenized standard of beauty.
Detail image of Induced Pandemic (2007) by Ashutosh BhardwajSan José Museum of Art
They seek a product that is intended to reshape a person’s nose, specifically to mimic the striking profile of the ancient Egyptian queen Nefertiti.
Detail image of Induced Pandemic (2007) by Ashutosh BhardwajSan José Museum of Art
The nose-shaping tool casts a large shadow over the landscape, which is painted in graphic tones and hot color palette. The scene appears almost apocalyptic, with meteoric orbs raining from the sky onto a gridded building on fire in the background.
Detail Image of Induced Pandemic (2007) by Ashutosh BhardwajSan José Museum of Art
The center of the painting is dominated by a red hibiscus flower, which is native to India and used for religious and cosmetic purposes. Out of the flower blooms a cricket ball, referencing the Indian public’s obsession with cricket.
In the early 2000s the India cricket team hired its first foreign coach from New Zealand.
Induced Epidemic (2007) by Ashutosh BhardwajSan José Museum of Art
Regarding his work, Bhardwaj has said: "Clichéd images are projected through various forms of media, which serve as the image language of the global socio-politics which comes to me as metaphors.
While juggling with these media, I always try to be conscious of keeping their clichéd-ness alive. By doing so, there is a continuous attempt to use the meticulous strategies of these image languages as a tool which can decode their own rationally crafted meanings.
In this whole process, I always prefer to keep a distance from the images and try to keep their glass alive without any personal and real life touches; which help me to be at a place from where I can point to the power and violence in contemporary life.
My interest in precise, sharp, meticulous geometry and other design references, helps me create suitable unreal abstract spaces where these clichéd images can interact.
In this interaction, images from history also get indulged; the history which is with us as an accepted legacy.”
The curtains on either side flank the scene, as if the viewer is part of an audience viewing the stage. They simultaneously suggest that there are unknown powers controlling this platform, begging the question of who is truly in power.
Induced Pandemic was in the San José Museum of Art 2011 exhibition, “Roots in the Air, Branches Below.”
More information on the exhibition can be found here: sjmusart.org/roots-air-branches-below-modern-and-contemporary-art-india/home/index.php.
