For Chintan, the sculptures and his paintings serve as units of cultural information, symbols of political memes, they look like cyberblitzs, kind of cyber game objects, substance less, disinvested of material inertia, they represent the utilitarian de-spiritualized universe and open up the possibilities of new realms of reality. The realities here are ‘not real’ realities and their domains are nothing but false kingdoms, ‘to STAGE it in a fake spectacle’ as Lacan calls.

Subjecting of body as an artificial device to replace the body is one of the concerns that Chintan has in his mind. Jean Baudrillard has defined the problem as, ‘It is a genetic formula inscribed in each cell that becomes the veritable modern prosthesis of a body… If the prosthesis is commonly an artifact that supplements a failing organ, or the instrumental extension of a body, then the DNA molecule, which contains all information relative to a body, is the prosthesis par excellence, the one that will allow for the indefinite extension of this body by the body itself - this body itself being nothing but an indefinite series of prostheses.”. Baudrillard uses concept of ‘simulacra’ to describe the state of image and representation which our postmodern moment has created, For him, there are no longer any ‘true’ or essential identities, instead by virtue of our state hyper commoditization we are left with series of detached, distanced, alienated and isolated images which are merely ‘copies of copy’ holding no claims to the essential truth.

Creation of demonic space is a primary disposition of his ‘Clone Vitthala’ installation. And Demusculinization of fantasy kernel of our being is an underlined alarum that the viewer perceives when he encounters the copies of copy sculptures arranged in unending false space of the gallery.

The logic of consumerism is to initiate luxuriation, and hyper reality provides for a smooth wallowing. The hyper reality is a simulation of something that never existed. It tricks the consciousness into detaching from any real emotional engagement, instead opting for artificial simulation, and endless reproductions of fundamentally empty appearance. Fulfillment and therefore happiness finds their reflection in hyper reality, by overpowering an individual. Hyper reality thus swallows reality into its ‘not real world’.

Libidanility has been always a characteristic trait for Chintan’s works. …… Biology as an ideology and libidinality as a political expression has been a trend for some time in contemporary art. Chintan’s babies are titled as Smart Alec, the dictionary meaning of Smart Alec is an impudent person, obnoxiously self assertive. Smart Alec is also the name of one of the most widely circulated of the early underground pornographic films. The short film has scenes of sexual intercourses and fellatio, which became popular.

Pornography has been always Chintan’s first preference to comment on cotemporary hyper consumer society. He uses porno imagery to unearth the reason of sexuation. The skin that the Smart Alec bears in his paintings and sculptures is, as mentioned earlier, a selection of leafs of Indian miniature paintings, often personating Kamsutra pictures or related elite porn, a kind of a monograph on desire. They lurk voluptuously on the bodies of his works, and sneak into the gallery hall that is filled up with red colour.

All of his works strike a strange angle, as a built in architecture, or as if default system, what hits your eyes every time is the infantile visage, almost theatrical and Mephistophelean, with the globus fat head, and then the inbuilt angle ushers viewer vision leading him to confront with the conspicuous genitals of the body, making a weird and wonderful relationship between head and genitals apparent.

Smart Alec is his new real, a copy of the copy, without an original, It stands for a symbol of New Man, his biology and his sexuation entails a logic of deprivation of material languor. Smart Alec is predicament and a dilemma, his desire and death. Smart Alec is new myth that Chintan is building, predicative of outmoded utopia of renewal of perception.

Once we understand the limits of viewer’s gaze, the ideolological and fantasmatic coordinates of his works in the matrix of the late capitalist consumerist contemporary society get denoted, and find their location.

(This is an extract of an essay written by Sanjeev Khandekar, on Chintan Upadhyay’s recent works for private circulation. Sanjeev Khandekar is a visual artist, poet and writer, he lives and works in Mumbai. “Clone Vitthala” is one of his poems, has been used to title the installation show.)