Aquasaurus

2008
Resin, paint, steel
100 x 271x 106 in. / 254 x 688 x 269 cm.

Aquasaurus (2008) is the largest among a series of skeletal vehicles by the artist that include Autosaurus Triopus (2007) and Collidonthus (2007).These emerged from small gouache drawings that Kallat made in 2002 referencing found photographs of vehicles burnt or otherwise damaged in riots.

Modelled on water tankers that ferry drinking water to water-short localities in urban India, Aquasaurus is described by the artist as “grotesque, burlesque and arabesque in equal measure” for its mammoth size and heavily ornamented yet monstrous body. Displayed like a specimen at a museum or a brand new vehicle in a showroom, Aquasaurus is both playful and unsettling; inscribed as it is with themes of violence, drought, death and mortality.