There Is Here: Photographs by Avi Gupta - Press information

4th Feb 2012 - 1st Jul 2012

The Sainsbury Centre launches a new programme dedicated to contemporary art with a specially commissioned exhibition of intriguing new photographic works by the American artist Avi Gupta.

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For his first UK exhibition, Avi Gupta presents There Is Here, a series of over thirty photographs taken inside Bengali homes in Kolkata, India and the Washington DC area, USA. With a variety of print sizes ranging from intimate to larger than life, the images depict everyday household scenes as found by the artist: slices of pumpkin resting on a kitchen table, an empty prayer room after a puja, unworn jeans lying on a bed. Even though human interaction is evident in the scenes, no people are pictured in the exhibit, encouraging the viewer to contemplate the inhabitant's presence through their possessions.

The visually stunning exhibition also features a video piece, Sitting Room, and a sub-series of photos titled Offerings, which portray the various foods the artist was offered during his home visits.

Born to Indian parents who immigrated to the United States, the artist's multi-cultural upbringing places a personal filter on contemporary themes such as globalisation, modernity and cultural hybridity.

"I find it critical to produce pictures that provoke contemplation. By approaching photography with a subtractive mentality, I repeatedly question what should not be included in any given scene. The resulting images are minimal and quiet, deliberately devoid of people, hinting at their presence through the residue of their absence. The mood is melancholy and nostalgic, yet aesthetically welcoming the viewer to explore the ideas of belonging and identity within the parameters of home." Avi Gupta

"Avi Gupta is a talented artist, constantly searching for alternative modes of photographic representation and how to move away from the ubiquitous photographic styles that fill our everyday lives. Yet the images for the exhibition, 'There Is Here' are about the everyday, the beauty of the found domestic environment and the poetry of the signifiers of human adaptation across continents. This sensitive and thoughtful work is being revealed for the first time in this exhibition of unique and powerful photography of the home." Emily Crane, Curator, The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts

Avi Gupta works both as an exhibiting artist and as Director of Photography, Publications at US News and World Report. His images have appeared in major publications like The Washington Post and The New York Times, and have been exhibited across the US including at academic institutions like the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington DC and the Leroy Neiman Gallery at Columbia University School of the Arts in New York. As well as private collections, his work is held in the permanent collection of the Library of Congress in Washington.