Ketna Patel

For the most part, Indian art is often associated with the glorious past. If one were to envision Indian art, the initial image might be of the many-limbed lovers perpetually wrapped around each other and frozen on the majesty of ancient temple walls, or the finely tuned detail of a God in repose, a lotus blossom of exquisite detail resting delicately on his palm. But where has contemporary art taken place? Surely it exists, but why is it not in the forefront of our impression when we discuss Indian art? Its invisibility lies within a subtle Western prejudice. In a way, we have stereotyped against Indian art and limited its ingenuity to ancient temple walls and the exquisite detail of doe eyed paintings. Classical Western art thus implies that India is in its “catch up” phase. The electric colors that have graced contemporary Western art have only just begun to leak into the peripherals of South Asian artists. Wrong. Contemporary South Asian art has magnificently captured the tumultuous times of our present, the conflicting stereotypes and the cacophonous clang when we meld the old to the new.

Ketna Patel, an award winning South Asian artist, currently residing in Singapore, has graced the contemporary South Asian art movement with her electrifying pop art. A testament to diversity, Ms. Patel has lived in three different continents; Africa, Europe and Asia, each more than a decade. Her artwork reflects her refined cosmopolitan view, but it also reflects the core of an Asian identity conflict. It reflects the heat of life that sometimes lives as a slow gurgling stream rather than explosively seeking and warming any and everything in its proximity. Energy is one of the main components of Ketna Patel’s artwork; it is not just the vibrancy of the colors and the artful placement of pictures and lines that gives the artwork life. It is the raw symbolism of the image that she draws on with masterful skill. In one of her photo collages titled “Henna Hand,” Ms. Patel uses a patchwork of images from the henna adorned hand of a bride to the various images representing South Asian culture and values. Crimson and saffron yellow, often a sign of life, take on a different meaning with her audience because it forces them to evaluate what this colorful arrangement represents to them.

Her artwork leaves little to be desired in an intellectual framework because its purpose is to invoke thought. While acclaimed Western pop artists such as Andy Warhol or Roy Lichtenstein brought artistic thought to intriguingly new levels, South Asian artists were still considered only “followers” to the artistic movement.

However, Asian development is no longer dependent on the direction of the West. Take the global markets for example; even while stocks may plunder worldwide, Asia still has a grip on itself. Westerners have a distinct “diverse” taste. As in, they celebrate diversity without actually claiming it, and it is in this way that Asia’s blossoming stream of ingenuity has taken a divergent path from conventional contemporary art. While countries such as India are not exactly socially agile, their growing acceptance and push to meld discrimination in the face of long rooted antagonism has translated beautifully into an artist’s representation of such conflicting extremes.

Asians themselves are highly demanding new art to grace and highlight their past, present and future. I’m not sure how many of you have heard of the “polar bear in the snow” joke, but it served as a backlash to contemporary artists everywhere. The fictional picture had a black dot on a stark white canvas. Phony art connoisseurs sniffed at the portrait and happily proclaimed that they had found worthy praise in the blank canvas. Asian art scoffs at this fake presentation of contemporary art. For many rising artists, contemporary art represents a new outlet and different lens to examine and evaluate meaning. Sometimes the art functions within the context of society norms, other times it may attack a taboo or ubiquitous criticism of a people, but it always serves a purpose.

The rising generation of young Asian artists, which Ketna Patel stands in the forefront of, is bent on drawing upon the rich ethnic and perspective diversity of their culture. They translate these seemingly irreconcilable differences into loud, electrifying colors that not only scream for attention but also plead for reasoning. They want you to think. Artists such as Ms. Patel ask that you see the world through their eyes, be it some small fragment or a quick skim on their entire view of life itself.

Ketna has stated that, “Artists have a responsibility to reflect and project the changing society they live in.” Like a new age historian, she documents the images she sees shaping the generation of tomorrow. Within each microcosm of her perspective she captures a particular emotion or references to a certain situation or lapse in time where diversity comes into play. In some of her artwork, she juxtaposes well-known religious icons with the extremities of real life as well as a frank portrayal of Asia’s social topography ranging from the elite to those just scraping the rungs of the socio economic ladder.

A lot of her artwork has a sort of consumer-like if not advertising appeal. The bold lacquered colors are akin to popular billboard signs and slick magazine advertisements. Ms. Patel strives to infuse a glorious past, a constantly changing present and the quick unfolding of the future so as to relate several different messages at any one given time. It shows exactly what she sees.

Our lifestyle has created an entirely new league of Gods. The media’s romance with particular individuals and public figures presents a warped form of worship. Its impact is all the more destructive when an entire culture can distinguish one celebrity’s misdemeanor over another versus recognizing the national statistics of the ongoing climb of poverty and the slipshod structure of global markets. The world is arguably over stimulated from the advent of the high technologically oriented culture as well as the rise of globalization.
Ketna Patel’s artwork is a form of unification with these conflicting images of Asian life. The images that seem punched onto the forefront of our imagination reflect the great oxymoron of our generation’s lifestyle: noisy repose. In many ways we are straddling the bright line of cultural differences. Asian art is trapped within the half closed eyes of the sculptures of old South Asian art and yet it finds footing in the uncertain nature of the future. Ms. Patel’s work offers the ultimate transition and marriage between the components of our past, present and future with electrifying colors and a sincere portrayal of Asia through her eyes.