A visual art exhibit for hip-hop fans and pop culture enthusiasts

Last weekend, I reluctantly agreed to go with a friend to an art exhibit at Bikaner House in New Delhi. I know adulting is about being able to say no, but this one time my inability to do so led to something wonderful. 

I usually leave art shows feeling sombre, but despite a tedious five-hour journey from home to Delhi earlier in the day, I left Boogie Woogie with the kind of energy I haven’t had in a month.  

The artist, Sumit Roy, is a young man with an unassuming demeanour, and his artworks are rife with pop culture references. 

Sumit greeted me at the door and I walked past after saying a weak hello. My friend told me that he was the artist a few steps later, and I immediately turned around to get a second look, curious to learn something that would help me read his art.

Sumit Roy is a multimedia artist, communication designer, and rapper based out of New Delhi. An alumnus of Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda, Sumit’s practice is rooted in the mural tradition of the art school. 

Art exhibitions or performances are usually accompanied by some text. This could be a curator’s words or an artist's statement, and assists in your reading of the work, and your engagement with the performance. It guides you, your thoughts, and your experience. 

Boogie Woogie offers no such text. The name of the exhibition greets you as you enter but even the name of the artist is scribbled with a marker, as though an afterthought. 

In a conversation with YS Life, Sumit confirms that he was reluctant to put his name on the wall but did so after being advised and pressed by friends. 

“My art is open to interpretation. I want to keep it as simple as possible. You won’t need a manual to understand my art. My process is my journey,” says the reticent Sumit.  “I want people to bring their own contexts and take away their own meanings.” 

In his works, Sumit juxtaposes the cult of global stardom with local everyday sights from the country of his childhood. 

“I draw from nostalgia,” he states.

These themes run aplenty in the current exhibition too. Even the name Boogie Woogie draws from the sub-genre of blues, but also has the Indian context of the dance reality show that aired between the late 1990s and early 2000s. 

The exhibition runs through two lobbies, a hall, three rooms, and the stairwell space. 

At the centre of the exhibition is a homage to hip-hop artists Kendrick Lamar, the late Mac Miller, and designer Virgil Abloh. The room also has a minimalist metal sculpture of a flower placed somewhere near the centre. 

Almost all the pieces in the exhibition had no names, to begin with. In the process of setting up the display, Sumit realised that he should perhaps name them. Now, each of the pieces has a name—scribbled in with a black marker. 

What is interesting is that the only piece in the exhibition that still remains unnamed is a tribute to American rapper and record producer Mac Miller who passed away in 2018. The piece is inspired by his song Self Care and is painted in oil paints that the artist is allergic to.

This exhibit is also a sociopolitical commentary as it borrows from political and societal sub-contexts, and interweaves them with popular culture. 

In some of the pieces, you can almost hear Sumit let out a derisive laugh, while around the gallery you can hear people let out loud “ha!s” and “ah!s” as people stop at a painting of Kim Kardashian, her ex-husband and her children in front of the Taj Mahal posing as Indian families do in front of monuments or a painting of Donald Trump that says “Teri baggi, mera ghoda” (your wagon, my horse).  

There are also sculptures of animated characters from television shows of our childhood, subverted to comment on social behaviours that are afflictions of today. For instance, somewhere at the start of the show, you will find Warner Bros’ Tweety perched on a branch holding a camera, a comment on the current toxic paparazzi culture, and our obsession with clicking something that is Instagram-worthy.

There are also sculptures and installations inspired by TV characters, mythical creatures, and internet memes. 

In a lone room, towards the end of the exhibition, lies a lonesome sculpture that’s almost too easy to miss called ‘A man with a tear’. It is a play of light, shadows, contours, and emotions.

In true Sumit Roy fashion, I urge you to read into that what you will. 

While the Delhi show has come to a close, Sumit Roy brings Boogie Woogie to Mumbai’s Jehangir Art Gallery on October 31. If you catch it on opening night, you can also catch a performance by Sumit’s band RollsRoy's, which will be dropping an original composition Saadhaaran produced by Delhi and LA-based DJ duo 5yndik8.