Sunil Gupta | Spectrosynthesis II, Exposure of Tolerance | Bangkok Art and Culture Centre

Hales is delighted to announce the inclusion of Sunil Gupta in the exhibiton Spectrosynthesis II, Exposure of Tolerance: LGBTQ in Southeast Asia. The largest ever LGBT Asain contemporary art exhibition will open at Bangkok Art and Culture Centre in Novemeber 2019.

 

In 2008, Autograph commissioned Sunil Gupta to create new work in response to the human rights issues surrounding Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. This law, instituted by the British in 1660, criminalised homosexuality, and led to the arbitrary arrest and exploitation of gay, bisexual and transsexual Indians. Section 377 was not overturned until 2018. 

 

Sunil produced a series of photographs The New Pre-Raphaelites for the commission. Radhika Singh writes of this work in his text Pre-Raphaelites Re-Visited: Narratives of a Gay Life: "Sunil Gupta’s series of 10 images deals with the ‘truths’ of posturing gay couples, single men and women, and families posing romantically between the cutting edge of desire and passion.

 

An unwieldy combination of symbolism and realism, the photographs are filled with the intense luminosity of mythology while concentrating on models (real people) who occupy the spaces of criminal intent within the lines of Section 377. Exotically coloured backdrops highlight brilliant costumes, and sometimes nude bodies with a precise devotion to detail that is magnetic.

 

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Sunil Gupta

Spectrosynthesis II, Exposure of Tolerance: LGBTQ in Southeast Asia

Bangkok Art and Culture Centre

939 Rama Road

Khwaeng Wang Mai, Khet Pathum Wan

Krung Thep Maha Nakhon 10330

Thailand

 

September 10, 2019