Sketches, paintings and tribal art make up the Taash ke Patte set, which goes under the hammer on Thursday. Here’s a sneak peek
In 1976, London’s JPL Gallery hit upon a unique plan for a collection of works. They distributed a standard deck of playing cards (including two Jokers) among 54 top British artists and asked each of them to create their own, distinctive version of the card they received.
Artists like Howard Hodgkin, John Hoyland, Patrick Heron, Allen Jones, Maggie Hambling and David Hockney, took up the challenge, contributing to create a Deck of Cards, a collection that represented British art in a cool, new way.
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Last year, the idea got a reshuffle. The British Council commissioned 54 of India’s top artists to create Taash Ke Patte, a new deck of cards. Artists as varied as Jyoti Bhatt, Nikhil Chopra, Shilpa Gupta, Sudhir Patwardhan, Raqs Media Collective, Anjolie Ela Menon, Syed Haider Raza, Thukral & Tagra and Waswo X Waswo each extended their style to a 36 cm x 30 cm playing card.
The works were exhibited alongside the original 1976 Deck of Cards in London last year. On May 25, the 54 cards go under the hammer at Christie’s South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art sale. The set is expected to fetch £80,000 to £120,000 (Rs 67 lakh to Rs 1 crore). Here’s a look at some of them, up-close.
Rachel Lopez is a a writer and editor with the Hindustan Times. She has worked with the Times Group, Time Out and Vogue and has a special interest in city history, culture, etymology and internet and society....view detail