Seven Minutes of Blackmail: Atul Dodiya

This set of paintings explores​​ Dodiya’s obsession with the medium of film, where his signature photographic painting style is often mistaken for photography. In this exhibition, he pays homage to the genius of Hitchcock, where Atul is seen recreating his legacy through the close watching of the Hitchcock film, Blackmail. These 36 paintings could best be read as a 'contact sheet '.

Released in 1929, Blackmail encapsulates an eery depiction of effective emotion, impulsive reactions and a chase which resonated with Atul Dodiya's journey of creating a work of art and its final rendition.

It is interesting to note how Dodiya treats the canvas. He shoots images on the television screen, these images become photographs, which are then used to render the paintings. These photographs carry with them a graininess, which Dodiya masterfully uses to create painterly markings within these paintings. In a way, motifs of past dawn new faces and make their way into these works, seamlessly working with relevant ideologies to produce a new ‘blockbuster'!

These oil paintings often put the viewer in a dilemma between the reel and real!