Sex, Lies cyberspace  Artist Sanjeev Khandekar risqué exhibition will bring the virtual sexshop into the real world You could be a 40-year-old man posing as a 16-year-old girl, a 60-year-old woman playing a 20-year-old stud-boy, a wallfower geek who becomes an adventure sports jock or a neurotic pimple-ridden teenager who turns into a super-model. Online, anything is possible. Entering the virtual world, one can play violent games. ''The site Sociolotron allows raping and murdering in its virtual underworld and the site naughtyamerica.com clarifies that all this occurs with the consent of the browser, so it is a valid fantasy,'' says artist Sanveej Khandekar, whose collaborative exhibition with artist Vaishali Narkar, clits, Tits and Elephant Dicks, opens at Jehangir Art Gallery on August 1. Taking off from this virtual world where one can buy anything from dildos to life-like sex dollies, Khandekar will convert the staid gallery into a rocking underworld, filled with 12 paintings, two large installations and four glass table-tops that are faux computer monitors displaying actual and imaginary websites that cater to the huge onling porn industry. ''I've cast myself as one of the real dolls serving customers like an eight limed octopus behind the kitschy bar, tossing up a cocktail made for their fantasy,'' says the artist who positions himself through his works, both as a critic and a participant of the raunch and razz. Even his water-colours evoke a sense of the games and online sex without actually becoming a voyeuristic tour themselves. For the uninitiated, Khandekar is a Marathi writer-poet who turned artist in 2001 with a show of watecolours at Jehangir Art Gallery. However, it was his mammoth exhibition at Pundole and The Museum Gallery in Kala Ghoda last year, that lobbed him into the big league. ''Even today, it's difficult to sell my work because of it's confrontational nature, but people have faith in my work, which is why I'm having my next show,'' says Khandekar, sitting in his Chembur studio. Besides the large paintings and installations, Khandekar is also coming out with a book that takes off on the dolls available online. For instance, one interesting page tells you that the FAQ section of most sex toy websites reads something like this. 'What happens when the noneymoon is over and tire of the doll? Can I exchange it?' The answer is almost predictable. 'Sorry, all transactions are final and there can be no exchanges or refunds.' ''It's really interesting that in the land of virtual sex, birth and death, these fake toys are as close to reality as one can ever get,'' oberves the artist. Even the currency of the internet is fake, you can buy imaginary plots of land with the leden and become a virtual millionaire on a gaming site, but as they say, every dream has its manifestations of reality, no matter how twisted that might be-sex toys being just one of the many. Catch the show Tits,Clits and Elephant Dicks at Jehangir Art Gallery from August 1. The Indian Express, July 2006