RAVINDER REDDY (B. 1956)
This lot will be removed to Christie’s Park Royal.… Read more RAVINDER REDDY: DISCOVERING A GODDESSIn the early 1980s, while visiting Goldsmiths University, as a guest of my partner who was a student there - I attended a lecture by John Wood (Assistant Dean). During the lecture, he motioned to a large fibreglass figure, explaining that the larger than life sculpture was done by an exchange student from India, who had returned home leaving him with the three similar works, and that he had absolutely no where to keep them. He asked if anybody had, for instance, a theatre or performance project that could utilise any of the works as props, they were welcome to take them.I put my hand up, and said ''Sir, I am doing a performance called ‘Seconds to Go’ in three weeks, and would love to use the reclining goddess. He replied, “Fine, it will be stored in the gymnasium building until it can be collected.”By a strange coincidence I had talked with the maker of the work, the year before, and he had explained to me that the figure had taken six months to model in clay, before being cast in fibreglass, but that the base or plinth (which was unfortunately destroyed by caretakers, minutes before I arrived to collect the work) had taken only one week to make.I say a strange coincidence, because I had no idea I would become a future guardian of the work. I was at Goldsmiths visiting my then wife to give her twice weekly tutorials. In general I didn't mix much with the other students, so it was unusual for me to talk with anyone.It took me about two weeks to arrange the vehicle which would transport the Goddess from South London to my home. On arriving at the gymnasium, which was closed for the term, I was greeted by the sight of the caretakers standing poised over the Goddess with sledge hammers. Next to them on the ground were the remains of the plinth which they had just smashed up. So, it really was with only seconds to go that I managed to save the Goddess.A few years later, after transporting the Goddess once strapped to the roof of a small vehicle, I found myself in the middle of a divorce during which I moved to a tiny hotel room in Marble Arch. While there I was told if I wanted the Goddess I must immediately remove her from my old home. As a result, to accommodate the Goddess in that extremely small hotel room, I had to move out until I found permanent accommodation. Once again, I drew bemused stares as I moved the Goddess, this time carrying her upon my back, down the side streets from the hotel room to my new home.After being guardian of this beautiful figure for over thirty years, I would be delighted for her to find a new home.-V.W. (March 2018)PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE LONDON COLLECTION
RAVINDER REDDY (B. 1956)

Untitled (Goddess)

Details
RAVINDER REDDY (B. 1956)
Untitled (Goddess)
painted and gilded polyester resin fibreglass
26 ¾ x 24 ½ x 78 in. (67.9 x 62.3 x 198.1 cm.)
Executed circa early 1980s
Provenance
Gifted by the artist to John Wood, Assistant Dean, Goldsmiths, University of London, circa early 1980s
Acquired from the above by the present owner
Special notice
This lot will be removed to Christie’s Park Royal. Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite. Our removal and storage of the lot is subject to the terms and conditions of storage which can be found at Christies.com/storage and our fees for storage are set out in the table below - these will apply whether the lot remains with Christie’s or is removed elsewhere. Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Christie’s Park Royal. All collections from Christie’s Park Royal will be by pre-booked appointment only. Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060 Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com. If the lot remains at Christie’s it will be available for collection on any working day 9.00 am to 5.00 pm. Lots are not available for collection at weekends.

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Damian Vesey
Damian Vesey

Lot Essay

His women, while commanding in scale and demeanor, have less-than-idealized features, closer to folk than to fine art. And while he titles some pieces for the Great Goddess, Devi, others are given ordinary Indian names, often ones popular in rural India. The result is a hybrid, with roots in the past but also in the pop cultural present. A heroic art with a common touch: kitsch for the ages.
H. Cotter, ‘Art in Review: Ravinder Reddy’, The New York Times, 12 October 2001

Exploring the co-existence of the traditional and the contemporary, Ravinder Reddy's brightly hued and outsized depictions of women are ruminations on sexual, religious and cultural identity. Reddy's visual cues emanate from the exquisite idols of Hindu and Buddhist temples in Nepal, while the wide-eyed expressions are influenced by the enamelled eyes of cultic images in Nathdwara and Mathura. The artist, however, is equally comfortable referencing global contemporary art practices, including the work of artists like Fernando Botero and Jeff Koons. Reddy's choice of media also reflects the dichotomies that characterise his practice, combining traditional elements like clay, plaster and gold leaf with more contemporary materials like fibreglass and automotive paint.

Bringing together the ancient and the contemporary, and linking temple, kitsch and Pop art, Reddy's larger than life sculptures command attention from the viewer and challenge traditional notions of beauty, femininity, and domesticity. With their particular focus on ornamentation, they draw attention to the widespread societal pressure to conform to particular norms of beauty, and the reverence for and adherence to age-old notions of femininity.

Reddy was one of the first contemporary Indian artists to draw critical attention in the United States following solo exhibitions in 2001 at Deitch Projects in New York, the Sackler Gallery in Washington DC, and the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. His works have also been shown in the seminal survey India Moderna (Institut Valencia d'Art Modern, 2009), at the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers (2002), the House of World Cultures, Berlin (2005), the Daimler Chrysler Contemporary Museum, Berlin (2007), the Smart Museum of Art, Chicago (2011) and the Arken Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen (2012).

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