The Lie of the Land (unedited version)

As published in the recent issue of ArtAsiaPacific...

It is no coincidence that Indian artist Jitish Kallat chose religious fanaticism as the subject of his latest work aptly, playfully and collectively entitled “The Lie of the Land” at Walsh Gallery in Chicago. Given these uncertain times, this ambitious installation featuring seven paintings, six works on paper and a fifteen-foot long text-based work on acrylic mirror deftly mixes art, religion and politics. But what Kallat creates is not trite agitprop. In fact, the artist employs the dispassionate vocabulary of Pop Art and Minimalism to comment on the state of current global affairs, in particular, “a new era of religiously motivated violence” in his own cool ironic tone.

What is coincidence though centers on the strange fact of Swami Vivekananda giving a speech in Chicago on September 11, 1893 about the dangers of religious fundamentalism. Kallat incorporates this twist of fate, which alludes to our present political climate and questions the happenstance and irony of these connections by using it as the basis for “Detergent”. The centerpiece of this exhibit, this shadowboxed triptych contains the entire text from the actual speech, literally burnt onto three larger-than-life mirrors, distorting its surface much like its funhouse relative. Each mirror encased in cold steel and propped against the wall generates a wavy and reflective sheen through the glass that echoes and superimposes the melted letterforms onto the viewer. The effect as such resembles the topography of a flag unfurling and disintegrates the original message advocating the universal truths of harmony and tolerance.

The paintings and works on paper, on the other hand, rely on a more formal approach to illustrate his social commentary. Kallat’s series of paintings entitled “Covering Letter” depict familiar images of global unrest culled directly from the headlines as propaganda poster art albeit painted in the style of Sigmar Polke. These canvasses resemble high-end magazine ads with its vibrant palette electrifying the graphic design of manipulated images from the media, Internet and popular culture such that it becomes whimsical as with the painting, “Cover Letter No. 2” showing prisoners tortured at Abu Ghraib whereas the works on paper continue Kallat’s love of the pun. In this series also entitled “Lie of the Land” Kallat disguises the red text, that vaguely recalls Russian script to spell out its title against a backdrop utilizing images from the media which he keeps intact to trace scenes of rioters, protesters and other so-called Third World types into recognizable blotches and smears employing a stark black linear style.

Overall the terse power of “Detergent” carries resonance as text objectified and the paintings and works on paper tread tough ground to balance art and politics without falling prey to the usual tropes of proselytizing.