Subodh Gupta with his 26-foot stainless steel cactus installed at Rajdhani Vatika in Patna on Friday. Picture by Jai Prakash

Patna, March 23: The man whose work transcends borders has chosen his home state for the first public display of his art in India.

Subodh Gupta, whose works fetch millions at auctions around the globe, has sculpted for Bihar a 26-foot cactus made from more than a thousand stainless steel utensils.

The artwork in a way marks the return of the native as Gupta, in some of his earlier works like Saat Samunder Paar, used baggage trolleys from modern airports to allude to the grim reality of migration, especially from Bihar.

The 48-year-old artist has installed the structure at the Rajdhani Vatika eco-park, located in the high-security VVIP area of the state capital that is home to ministers, senior bureaucrats and high court judges.

Gupta, who was born at Khagaul in Patna district and graduated from the College of Arts and Crafts here before moving to New Delhi, was commissioned by the Nitish Kumar government to put together a sculpture to mark Bihar’s hundredth year as a separate administrative entity.

The artist incorporates in his art everyday objects such as stainless steel tiffin boxes, bicycles and milk pails. For example, his 2008 artwork Line of Control, shown at the Tate Britain, was a massive mushroom cloud entirely made up of pots and pans.

For the cactus, Gupta has used bowls, tiffin boxes, plates and other utensils used daily in Indian households.

Explaining his art piece, Gupta said: “This structure is a cactus with two red round-shaped structures attached to it. The cactus is the symbol of strong existence — you put it in any situation and it will survive. The cactus represents the endurance and strength that overcomes harsh situations like droughts and storms. It might appear as the hardest plant and not so appealing but when it blossoms, it looks beautiful — its flower is bright and attracts people with its beauty.”

“The cactus represents the people of Bihar who have stood tall even in the dark age (read poor governance). The two red round-shaped structures represents the flower to show how Bihar is reborn from the dark ages,” he said.

The artwork, which took six months to complete and weighs two tonnes, was put together at Gupta’s studio in Delhi and brought to Patna for installation on the occasion of Bihar Divas. Gupta said he has used special material to ensure that the structure survives the vagaries of nature. “Generally the utensils which we use in our daily lives, if exposed to sun and water, get rusted easily. To keep this shining throughout, I have used a special quality — 316 grade — of stainless steel. The structure is supported from inside by a stainless steel rod,” Gupta said.

Although Gupta refused to divulge the cost of his work, official sources pegged the cost at a shade under a crore of rupees. “The state government had made a formal request to Gupta and even paid an honorarium amount of a little less than Rs 1 crore. Mr Gupta got the work done in his studio in Delhi and brought it here to install it,” the source said under cover of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak on the subject. But he stressed that the cactus, which does not yet have any canopy covering it, would not be affected by weather conditions as it is made of 361 grade stainless steel.

Patna divisional forest officer Surendra Singh said due measures have been taken to ensure protection of the structure. “We have put a steel fencing and deployed two guards round-the-clock around the work of art as a precautionary measure to prevent any damage to it,” said Singh. The upkeep and maintenance of the eco-park is the responsibility of the state forests and environment department.

Gupta said he was happy that the eco-park will be home to his work. “A lot of people visit the park and my purpose is that people see this and wonder about what has been made and interpret it in their own terms. This will make people aware about art and maybe in the near future we will see new artists coming up just by being inspired from this. The biggest achievement for an artist is if his work can inspire someone and people remember him because of his work,” Gupta said.

“I have been informed that soon we will have an art museum which will be constructed by a Japanese architect, and if that is done, we will be the first in India to have such a museum,” added the Patna boy, now very much a world citizen.