Atul Dodiya is one of the most prominent figures of contemporary Indian art. He melds the iconography of both Eastern and Western cultures through film, popular culture, and literature—doing so in the form of installation and painting. Dodiya’s works are deeply personal as he reflects on his own narratives with reference to the history of art and that of his home country, India.
The shutter doors bring the commonly seen protective Bombay shop fronts into the contemporary art genre. The work Mirror combines the metal front with paintings of the pop art work of Lichtenstein with Dodiya's own deeply expressionistic figure of scribe taking notes. The scribe, whose bones can be seen through his skin, sits with a book and skull. He is transparent and mysterious behind the brightly colored shield.
Highly original, Dodiya's works contain layers of meaning that can be stripped metaphorically or by means of the remote control of the mechanical shutter. They can be read half-closed or open as well as fully seeing one image or the other.