Gaurav Gupta is best known for his avant-garde and sculptural sense of fashion, with his couture encompassing worlds of the future primitive, invoking an infinite sense of rhythm. We chat with Gaurav about the interstices between fashion, art, and culture and the exciting and interdisciplinary artistic production in his recent works.
SP: As one of India’s strongest voices in couture and fashion, you have received much praise and many accolades, but how significant is it for you to have your work shown at the National Gallery of Modern Art – one of the most prominent cultural spaces in India? How has this experience differed from a runway show?
GG: When somebody is venturing into the design, they are pretty much a part of art & culture – be it any kind of design – architecture, fashion, sculpture, or dance. I am very thankful to Laveena – the curator of the exhibition to see that artist in me, and to be able to encourage and inspire me to explore the artist in me even more and add different expressions – to my work as well as my thought process. I am extremely humbled to be a part of this exhibition, which is at a momentous moment of the honest years of Mahatma Gandhi – the most legendary personality I know of. Initially, I was quite nervous about making this installation but was very happy with the end result.
SP: We see fashion presented in sell-out shows in the UK, Europe, and America – why is it that this is still relatively uncharted territory in India?
GG: The fashion industry is only 30-35 odd years old in India, however, it is 200 years old in Europe. The industry is so developed there, that if you ask even a taxi driver about the history of Dior and Cartier, he will know. There is a long way for India to reach there and there are very few elites who would know about fashion or are exposed to concepts around it. Having said that, we did a retrospective of 10 years of our brand at the Delhi Art Gallery when we opened our Mumbai store in 2014, and it was very well received by the consumers. We need more such interesting curators to slowly help us, as a nation, reach there.
SP: Your recent exhibition was dedicated to Gandhi Ji – can you tell us about how you chose to engage with India’s most honored subject in your contribution to the collection?
GG: My installation is called ‘The Tunnel of Infinity’ and for me, Gandhi Ji’s philosophy and his purpose in life were so infinite that they became one. That feeling of Gandhi also became infinite for me. I have tried to create a feeling of Gandhi Ji through this installation that defines the infinity of his truth and the infinity of his dedication. So I created this loop of infinity in khadi in my own sculpting technique, the perfect heartbeat in a circle around it, and two circular mirrors inside it. When you peep inside you see a well of infinity symbols to give you a god-like or extra-terrestrial feeling which is what one feels when they think about how absolute Gandhi Ji was
SP: I love it when artists from different disciplines collaborate to create unique works and experiences, and I heard that last year you collaborated with the immersive Theatre Company CROW. Can you tell us about this project and how it came to be?
GG: I collaborated with CROW when we opened our 5000 sq. feet store in Mehrauli. It was a significant moment and I wanted something more than just another store opening, and to speak about different aspects of our brand. I wanted it to be very dramatic because that also resonates with my personality. A lot of clothes that I make are very future primitive and when I met this very talented team at CROW, we came up with an immersive experience together where we created emotions. There was this woman called Melancholia, or there were Desire and Humour. There were characters in our clothes that heightened these emotions and one could experience fashion in a theatrical, immersive way rather than just as an aspiration.
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