Artist Bharti Kher’s Pieces Embrace the Chaos and Contradictions of India

THE FINANCIAL TIMES
By Griselda Murray Brown

'The Skin Speaks a Language Not Its Own'

INDIA---Bharti Kher’s work...borrows from Indian life in her art. She has used saris and bangles, and her bindi paintings are well known. But the piece that thrust her on to the international stage was “The skin speaks a language not its own” (above), a life-size female elephant slumped – dead or sleeping – on the ground, her skin an intricate patina of sperm-shaped bindis. One of three existing versions of the sculpture was sold for just under £1m at Sotheby’s in 2010. Kher’s art invites – even deals in – misunderstanding. (Bindis also mark the “third eye”, a link between the physical and spiritual realms.) Such duality is always present in Kher’s work; she embraces multiplicity and contradiction.  Bharti Kher, Parasol Unit, London, September 14-November 11, parasol-unit.org [link]