Shilpa Gupta Inflates Giant Wrestlers for Rooftop Commission

Shilpa Gupta b. 1976, India Follow +

When viewers approach Shilpa Gupta‘s sculpture on the roof of the National Gallery Singapore, they’ll see two large, black figures interlocked on a raised platform, like wrestlers in a ring.

Closer inspection reveals that the intertwining bodies rest on a single head, sparking thoughts of internal struggles within a society or an individual’s psyche.

The work ‘explores the complexities outside and inside of ourselves,’ Gupta said in a statement.‘I seek to create spaces that challenge preconceived notions and to initiate conversations across wider audiences’, she said.

The untitled sculpture is the sixth Ng Teng Fong Roof Garden Commission at the National Gallery of Singapore. It will be on view from 4 June until 31 March 2024.

Visitors are encouraged to touch and interact with the work. As part of the gallery’s Children’s Biennale (through 31 March 2024), art activities and a video-game inspired by the work will present further opportunities to playfully engage with the work.

The Ng Teng Fong Roof Garden commission series invites one artist a year to create a site-specific work for the Singapore National Gallery Rooftop inspired by Southeast Asia’s cultural heritage.

Artists previously commissioned for the series include Antony Gormley, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Cao Fei, and Danh Vo. —[O]

Main image: Shilpa Gupta. Untitled (2023). Commissioned by National Gallery Singapore for the sixth Ng Teng Fong Roof Garden Commission. Courtesy the artist. Photo: Joseph Nair, Memphis West Pictures.