Anant Joshi b. 1969

b. 1969, in Nagpur, India

Anant Joshi, a Mumbai-based artist, critiques our culture of abundance through sculptures, paintings, and light boxes. His work is notable for its distinctive use of toys as an artistic medium. Although toys were absent from Joshi's own childhood, he now engages with them as an adult to explore how these seemingly trivial objects convey messages about power, perception, and reality. He views toys as potent instruments that enable children to shape their ideal world, serving as a form of cultural programming for future generations.

After earning his B.F.A. and M.F.A. in painting at Sir J.J. School of Art in 1996, Joshi received notable awards and residencies. In 1998, he undertook a residency at the Kanoria Centre for Arts in Ahmedabad. The following year, he was awarded the Bendre Hussain Scholarship by the Bombay Art Society and presented a solo exhibition entitled Mukhota Paintings at Chemould.

Between 2002 and 2003, Joshi held another residency at Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam, where he was awarded the prestigious Dutch Prix de Rome 2004. During this programme, Joshi first discovered toys as a medium. On the Queen’s birthday, Dutch children sell their old toys for pocket change. Joshi purchased these toys, dismantled them to remove their 'fixed identities,' and recontextualised them to reflect his own experience of cultural adjustment as an Indian in Holland. While his early works repurposed readymade toys, Joshi now creates his own “toys,” typically using painted ceramic and fiberglass. Like the toys they are inspired by, Joshi’s sculptures and installations, with their gleaming, shiny colours and finishes, draw the viewer in. However, upon closer inspection, grotesque details like severed heads and trunk-less limbs emerge, evoking an aura of violent chaos.

By 2007, Joshi undertook another solo show at Chemould Prescott Road entitled NAVEL: One and the Many. The title referenced the god Brahma, who emerged from a lotus growing out of Vishnu’s navel. In this exhibition, Joshi transformed toys into violent installations, reminding viewers that while they may feel detached from global violence, they actively contribute to it through their parenting. Just as Vishnu contained all elements of creation within his body, Joshi’s work suggests we hold the power to shape our societies through how we raise our children.

Joshi is also renowned for his dramatic kinetic room installations, which amplify the impact of his mutated toy sculptures using lights, shadows, and reflections. In the 2007 exhibition NAVAL: One and the Many, he skewered fragments of brightly painted animal, human, and superhero figures onto rotating steel rods. This installation pierced both the viewer’s childhood memories and their sense of societal order. Joshi heightened this horror by separating viewers from the toys with blinds made of sharp razor blades, enticing them with movement and light while rendering them powerless to intervene.

In 2012, Joshi created some of his most celebrated works for the traveling exhibition Cinema City, co-curated by Archana Hande and Madhushree Dutta. Inspired by matinee idols, often called ‘patakas’ (firecrackers), and spindles - central to the textile industry’s history - Joshi crafted a mesmerising spinning installation with 100 objects rotating on an 8 x 4 foot table. This installation captured the sense of desire and excitement that pulses at the heart of Bombay.

Joshi demonstrated his ability to harness the energy of a city once again at the Kochi Muziris Biennale in 2012 with his installation Three Simple Steps. He replicated the form of a traditional Kerala temple, replacing the temple’s walls adorned with lamps with electronic mosquito repellent devices filled with the perfume ittar. This overwhelming sensory experience was designed to attract like-minded, good-hearted individuals, reminiscent of Malayalis seeking fortune abroad, while repelling those with malevolent intentions. Like many of Joshi's works, Three Simple Steps drew deep inspiration from Hindu mythology and Indian festival culture, particularly the Kerala festival of Onam.

In 2015, Joshi presented a solo show entitled Masquerade and other Apologues, which delved into the history and evolution of political cartoons. The show offered a nuanced critique of contemporary media and political dynamics. One featured work, Weathervane, used melted plastic toys to symbolise the shifting design and biases of broadsheet newspapers, reflecting a move towards right-wing media influences.

Having participated in Modus Operandi and Part 1: Framing | CheMoulding: Framing Future Archives, Joshi held a major solo show entitled Raised Eyebrow in 2024. Inspired by daily news and ironic stories, the exhibition featured artworks reflecting on the absurdities and complexities of modern life. Highlights included Missing – Flowers of the Wilderness, a bronze and fiberglass sculpture referencing Mahatma Gandhi’s lost Three Monkeys, commenting on the replication and loss of original values. The show also featured nine large paintings where Joshi obscured newspaper images with abstract patterns, addressing themes of censorship and the erasure of information in contemporary society.

The artist lives and works in Baroda, India.