A new group show ‘Dali's Elephant’

‘Dali's Elephant’ is a group show at Aicon Gallery, London. It traces the echoes of Surrealism in modern and contemporary art from the Indian Subcontinent through the works of artists Manjit Bawa, Sakti Burman, Jogen Chowdhury, K. Laxma Goud, Unver Shafi Khan, Suneel Mamadapur, Rekha Rodwittya, Prasanta Sahu, and Avishek Sen.

A press release elaborates: “In 1967 Air India commissioned Salvador Dali to produce a limited edition ashtray which was to be given to a select group of lucky first-class passengers. Dali produced a small unglazed porcelain ashtray composed of a shell-shaped center with a serpent around its perimeter. This was supported by three stands, two of which point in the same direction and resemble an elephant's head.

The third stand was inverted so that it resembled swan's head. Dali was initially paid no more than a few hundred dollars for his design but when they received the design the airline bosses were so delighted that they made Dali the surprise gift of an elephant. Dali lived with the elephant for a few days at his Portligat home before donating the beast to the local zoo.”

This odd and indeed, 'surreal' episode, is one of the few concrete encounters recorded between Surrealism and India. Whilst there is enough literature on the impact of Surrealism in the Caribbean and Latin America, its influence or role within modern and contemporary Indian art is undocumented. On a case-by-case basis it is possible to discern the influence of Surrealism on a number of individual Indian artists or as an indirect influence on others.

For instance K. Laxma Goud's works from the mid 1960s through the 1970s teem with surrealistic imagery and many contain scenes that are filled with people, beasts and phalluses in odd conjunctions. Manjit Bawa also blurred the distinction between human and animal form in simplified forms that reference the mythic. Sakti Burman's works also reference the mythic in a way that recall the dreamscapes of Western surrealists with incongruous figures floating together in the same picture plane.

Jogen Chowdhury's figures have certain playfulness. Rekha Rodwittya and Unver Shafi Khan are not so much consciously reacting to surrealism but seemingly using a
visual language.