Artist power couple #Part4: Meet Reena and Jitish Kallat
Artists tend to attract other artists. Imagine having two equally powerful creative forces living under the same roof. Get to know Reena and Jitish Kallat in part four of the HT Brunch four-part series on artist power couples.
There are artists who put up their guard, maintaining a stiff upper lip and complicating their art-related philosophies. And then there is Jitish Kallat. Not your stereotypical quirkily dressed artist with brush in hand, you could miss him if he passed you on one of his long walks on the streets of Mumbai. But it is the opposite when it comes to his works. You simply cannot pass them by.
For instance, Jitish’s artworks in 2008 included bizarre prehistoric-looking bone-shaped vehicles that he fashioned using resin and paint, such as the one titled Aquasaurus that takes on the shape of a ferocious truck.
Another famous work, Public Notice 3, a site-specific installation, opened at the renowned Art Institute of Chicago on September 11, 2010, which linked two diverse historical events.
A grand staircase illuminated extracts from a landmark speech that Swami Vivekanand gave on religious tolerance on the same date in 1893. Tragically, the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York in 2001 also took place on September 11.
Jitish’s wife Reena Kallat is no less a powerhouse. She is sharp, yet sensitive. With Jitish pulling her leg ever so often, it’s easy to see that she’s besotted by him. Experimenting with media like sculpture, painting and photographs, Reena addresses the fragile nature of human life, lost over the passage of time. Her take on art is so distinct that it demands thought no matter what she attempts to communicate.
Reena’s works, along with Jitish’s, were a part of a 2010 group show titled Empire Strikes Back at London’s Saatchi Art Gallery. The work comprised nameless portraits of civilians (from India and Pakistan) from the region of Pakistan occupied Kashmir. Accompanying this was a glass box of 32 small white pieces of moulded weapons displayed in a denture-like arrangement.
