Atul Dodiya is a name to reckon with in the art world, but outside the art world he is best known for his oil and acrylic work on canvas The Wall dedicated to former India cricket captain Rahul Dravid, which fetched Rs 57.6 lakh at an auction in 2009.
At the Kochi Muziris Biennale starting on December 12, it is not Dodiya’s paintings but his photographs that will be on display. The photographs he has been taking over the last 20 years of personalities in the art world will be displayed in the heritage building of Aspinwall in Fort Kochi. His studio was a laboratory of the company.
“This was once a laboratory and is now abandoned. It was here that many experiments were done long ago and finally from that may have come discoveries. It is coincidence that in my case I am experimenting with a different medium here. It is going to be a celebration in the laboratory,” says Dodiya.
The late M.F. Hussain, one of India’s most famous painters is one of his subjects. The photographs are being shown for the first time. Dodiya says he is challenged by the aesthetics of photography, and it is a medium he enjoys.
“I am trying to do things differently. This is a new thing and I know that the display will be quite a task,” he says.
Kochi-based artist Rati Devi says she got the opportunity to be asso-ciated with Dodiya by helping him set up the inst-allation.