Bhupen Khakhar & The Politics of (Re)Presentation

a nude man overlooks a town from a balcony at night

This panel discussion will follow close on the heels of Tate Modern’s retrospective of the late Indian artist, Bhupen Khakhar: You Can’t Please All (1 June – 6 November 2016). Curated by Chris Dercon and Nada Raza, it was the first exhibition of this size to be bestowed upon a South Asian artist – including more than seventy of Khakhar’s paintings, ceramics and works on paper, as well as his celebrated ‘coming out’ picture, You Can’t Please All (1981), from which the display gleaned its title. Born in 1934, Khakhar’s ‘narrative figurative’ paintings, which drew from a variety of multi-cultural sources, had a big influence on his compatriots: He has been called both the King of Kitsch and the Father of Indian Pop Art. Much like the artist himself, Tate’s extravaganza has been the subject of impassioned debate. This discussion will probe Khakhar’s status in the Indian and international artworlds, assessing his continuing relevance for the story of contemporary art.

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8 Nov 2016

The Courtauld Institute of Art, Somerset House, Strand, London

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