Battle of The Giants
2002
47 x 31.5 cm (18.5 x 12.4in)
Poster colour and gouache on paper
Artist: Amrit K.D. Kaur Singh

Inspired by images of the Royal elephant fight, this painting depicts the clash between opposing teams of American Football and Rugby. As two sports known for their muscle power and physically aggressive playing style, the impact of two elephants interlocked in battle provides an appropriate visual metaphor for charactering the game.

The fact that the American Football team seems to be loosing ground to the All Blacks rugby team reflects the way in which the former (with all its body protective paraphernalia) has been derided as the less macho version of rugby in the traditional rivalry that has existed between the two sports.

On a parallel level of interpretation the scrum (as a significant part of the game in which both sides fight for possession of the ball) symbolises the battle of the media and consumer company giants vying for control of lucrative prime time ratings and sponsorship of major sporting events. Against an escalating competitiveness, it seems that no part of the playing field is spared in the frenzy to maximise the potential to gain exposure from almost every conceivable camera angle. The juxtaposition of various company logos and names, and their prominence within the composition create a visual confusion that mirrors the 'in your face' tactics employed by an advertising game that has turned the sports pitch into a sales pitch - with brand imagery being optically distorted and strategically placed for optimum effect; to the point of distraction.

The resulting ambiguity leaves the viewer wondering whether the central focus of the painting depicts an actual game in progress or an advertising bill board (tilted upright on the field) on which the game has merely been illustrated as part of a campaign, against a backdrop of some of its sponsors

On another level of interpretation the elephants present a visual analogy for the economic, political and cultural divide that has historically existed between East and West, which in the context of this painting, is taken to be synonymous with the relationship between traditional global cultures and western society.
Alluding to its colonial origins, the choice of the New Zealand All Blacks to represent the black elephant of global cultures is particularly significant in this respect. As the first 'native' team to "[hand] out thrashings .... to any Home Unions" they contributed to sporting history in a way that challenged traditional Imperialistic notions of white superiority - striking a symbolic blow on behalf of all the colonies, as it were, to the might of the British Empire. Extending this to a more contemporary context, the All Blacks come to symbolise the growing defiance to what some would regard as the continuation of Empire in the Multinationals; whose monopoly of global resources in a world market ultimately serve the economic, political and cultural interests of the Western Superpowers.

As a team famed for its on pitch performance of the Haka - a dance which expresses the passion, vigour and identity of the Maori race, the All Blacks acquire additional significance in representing the reassertion of traditional cultural identities against the westernising tendencies of globalisation. This work draws on the Composite convention within Indian traditional art which, in this case, opens the image up to multiple levels of interpretation.

 

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