Two celebrated artists and their creative sojourn together

• Indian cataclysms have shaped Atul Dodiya’s work and so the explicitly political concerns without, descending into social realism, as an essay in International Herald Tribune mentions, turning the spotlight on his wife, Anju Dodiya, whose ‘quiet, sometimes whimsical play on the self- portrait seems to eschew the noise of the city’.
• Tracing their journey, The International Herald Tribune writer Somini Sengupta, had mentioned: “The couple, who met in art school here 20 years ago, are among a generation of contemporary Indian artists who chronicle the gestalt of an India on the boil, offering both mirror and commentary on issues ranging from its exuberant economy to the kitsch and disquiet of its daily life. If she burrows into the private, Atul Dodiya questions the blurred line between public and private. The shutter paintings are sometimes deeply private on the outside, loud and boisterous on the inside.” 
• He often quotes from the recesses of both Indian and Western art traditions. The history and culture of his home country plays a significant role in constructing the barrage of images that inform his oeuvre. A multitude of references populate the works, pointing to their vast preoccupations that encompass a whole range of issues.
• His canvases embrace issues ranging from exuberant Indian economy to the garish kitsch and disturbing disquiet of daily life. Driven by intellect, intensity and ideas, he continues to experiment with many forms. The artist’s striking imagery has invariably been packed with a stirring swirl of motifs: Bollywood, film stars, political icons, Hindu mythology characters, and so on.
• Anju Dodiya’s practice, rooted in the figurative and immersed in Oriental traditions, incorporates images as a vehicle of storytelling. Figures tend to appear in isolation or besides a few props. Ground is only indicated by the weight implied in the exaggerated folds of the voluminous garments worn by the characters, and also by possible distortions of perspective. Figures are depicted in exaggerated movements and their balance is unstable, being always in motion.