Bihar Museum | Subodh Gupta makes his way home

Multidisciplinary artist Subodh Gupta is showcasing his pots, pans and large skulls in Bihar for the first time, with the exhibition The Way Home

He is known as the king of cow dung, curry pots and a very hungry god. Contemporary artist Subodh Gupta’s work is well-known for tapping into the Indian middle-class psyche, employing the humble bartan (metal utensil) to create a variety of works — from the minimal to the maximal.

Now, with his show, The Way Home, opening at the Bihar Museum, Gupta is busy once again. And I say once again because, even with shows such as Inner Garden, the recent showcase in South Korea, he has kept a low profile ever since sexual harassment allegations were levelled against him in 2018 by Instagram account @herdsceneand, and he won the defamation case in 2020.

I remember the one-on-one conversations at the National Gallery of Modern Art when his installation-sculpture, Dada, was installed in 2012. We talked about how his work is inspired by his mother’s kitchen, where he played, studied, and even created early prototypes of his installations with her bartans. Today, the once jovial and accessible Gupta only responds over email, and declines to come on our group chat as I take a virtual tour of the exhibition.

The Way Home is almost like a journey and a recap. It takes us through his important works — from the large installation of Thalis to Guccha, which mimics a bouquet of flowers in a vase but is a collection of bartans. Anjani Kumar Singh, the director general of the museum who has long been a visitor at Gupta’s studio, curated the show.

“We’ve had ongoing discussions about my work, and together we carefully selected the pieces for this show,” says Gupta, who is displaying 20 sculptures and a selection of paintings created between 1999 and 2024 in his home state. “The curation and display are deeply intentional and meaningful. I wanted to provide art lovers with a comprehensive look at my artistic practice.” The exhibition includes paintings, sculptures, video works, and installations.

Of personal significance

Gupta says he’s never stopped working. “Through challenging times and otherwise, I’ve continued to work consistently. Just in the past few years, post-COVID, I’ve had a number of exhibitions, including my solo in Mumbai at Nature Morte and a project at Le Bon Marché,” he says. “This particular exhibition, however, holds a unique place. After graduating from the Patna Art School, it’s my first exhibition in my hometown in 30 years. So, it feels like a return home in many ways.”