If Henry Darger is among the most private of well-known artists, then Ashok Sukumaran represents the opposite end of the spectrum-- a spectacularly public conceptualist little known to the New York art world. But not for long. Glow Positioning System and Other Forms of Address represents the artist’s East Coast debut, though his popularity in India has been long indexed by reoccurring mentions in ArtForum and the like.

Sukumaran is a sort of public sphere electricity artist, in a country where just a tiny minority is familiar with the notion of interactive art. His Glow Positioning System featured a large hand-crank installed in a central intersection of Bombay, India’s largest and most charismatic metropolis. This crank was unattended, and the video documentation up at the Thomas Erben Gallery shows a very mixed crowd gathered around taking turns turning with the handle.

As the crank is turned, the skyline is lit up. Sukumaran actually managed to trace the silhouette of the Colonial cityscape in a string of lights that are controlled by the turning of the crank! The spectacle is only rivaled by the look of wonder on the faces of the Bombay crowds that lined up to take turns illuminating a city that so many so marginally inhabit.

- Sophia Powers

(*Images, from top to bottom: Ashok Sukumaran, Ashok Sukumaran, Glow Positioning System and Other Forms of Address, March 20 - April 19, 2008; Thomas Erben Gallery, Glow Positioning System (video still), 2005, video, 5:50 minute loop, Courtesy the artist and Thomas Erben Gallery, New York.  Ashok Sukumaran, Glow Positioning System and Other Forms of Address, March 20 - April 19, 2008; Thomas Erben Gallery, Glow Positioning System (video still), 2005, video, 5:50 minute loop, Courtesy the artist and Thomas Erben Gallery, New York.  Ashok Sukumaran, Glow Positioning System and Other Forms of Address, March 20 - April 19, 2008; Thomas Erben Gallery, The GPO/Kabutarkhana Chowk in Fort, Mumbai. Daylight; 2007, digital photograph with digital drawing overlaid, 12 x 25 1/2 in, Courtesy the artist and Thomas Erben Gallery, New York. Ashok Sukumaran, Glow Positioning System and Other Forms of Address, March 20 - April 19, 2008; Thomas Erben Gallery, Concept Design Skietch for Ashok Sukumaran, Glow Positioning System, 2005, video, 5:50 minute loop, Courtesy the artist and Thomas Erben Gallery, New York.)