JITEN THUKRAL Born 1976, Jalandhar, Punjab, India.
Lives and works in New Delhi, India
SUMIR TAGRA Born 1979, New Delhi, India.
Lives and works in New Delhi, India
I never wanted to do things that others were doing .I come from a middle class family, very conventional; my mother used to paint and I learned drawing from her. My brother is an architect and my dad is a businessman. I really thank my parents for all their support and am glad to be an artist. My influences include: Pink Floyd, Sigmund Freud, Salvador Dali, Dehli Metro stations and lot of day to day observations. Jiten Thukral
I belong to a small town: Jalander, Punjab. My dad is a wrestler and a famous artist in Punjab. I am highly influenced by him, but he wanted me to become a Pehalwan (body builder), which I never tried. I started working with him when I was a kid. We did two group shows in 1992. My influences include: toys, Punjabi underground music, Sikh movements, my dad, Stefan Sagmeister, Klan. Sumir Tagra
Jiten Thukral and Sumir Tagra work collaboratively in a wide variety of media including painting, sculpture, and installation, video, graphic and product design, web sites, music and fashion. Their vivid, colourful work typically exhibits a whimsical fascination with consumerism blurring the lines between fine art and popular culture, product placement and exhibition design, artistic inspiration and media hype. Despite the global nature of consumerism and its prevalent existence, Thukral and Tagra display their subjects through a distinctly Indian lens. Given the extremely diverse stratification of Indian classes, lifestyles and the country’s economy, the result is a harmonious and beautiful clash of sorts that fuses the current influx of the Western mainstream with India’s deep-rooted cultural heritage.
Jiten Thukral and Sumir Tagra address issues of branding and commercialism through a wide variety of stylistic themes and materials. Drawing on pop culture, history, street life, and mass media the artists meld their respective educations in art history and graphic design. Thukral & Tagra create surrealistic landscapes which both quote from and aesthetically surpass the slick product advertisements and commercials which have come to epitomize the visual landscape of our time.