The 'experiment' is still ongoing for Whanganui artist Prakash Patel ever since he first started delving into metallic and iridescent paints on his palm-sized canvases 20 years ago - and it's showing no signs of being exhausted.
'Even after so long, there's still the potential for surprise,'' he says. 'That's really what keeps me making them because I’m curious to see what the outcomes are going to be.'
'I find it intriguing that the paintings reveal the physics behind the natural world - the chemical reactions that happen are also part of the natural world.'
Patel is currently working on around 70 new pieces, the latest addition to his decades-long series, to be installed in the
Aratoi retail space early next month. It's the reactions between heavy and light paints that create an infinite range of mysterious abstract forms, simultaneously suggesting both microscopic and massive forms, such as planets.
New Zealand born Patel had a solo show at Aratoi in 2010 and has exhibited widely in New Zealand since graduating with a Diploma in Visual Arts and Design at Hawkes Bay Polytechnic in 1993. He has been a finalist in the Wallace Art Awards many times and his intricate large-scale paintings often draw on his Indian heritage, echoing textile arts.
With these small works, however, he likes to work swiftly, relinquishing control and to a large extent 'letting the paint do the work.' He has made several trips to India supported by Creative New Zealand, most recently to Gujarat to study the paintings and artistic processes of the indigenous Warli people.
'The Warli are a tribal group who live in a forest region near to where my parents are from. They are self sustaining but the modern world is encroaching on their way of life.' He explored parallels between the Warli and his own work while there: 'Their use of repetitive patterns and dot-making resonated strongly with my own work. I liked how their paintings depicted an intimate connection with nature and cyclic rhythms.'
He says both approach art in an internal and intuitive way to express their stories - the Warli in a collective way, and Patel from an individual point of view. 'I find fundamental aspects of Indian philosophy resonate strongly within my work, particularly in the way it adheres to a holistic view and that everything is connected from the microscopic world to the cosmos.'
Patel will also be exhibiting in a group show at the Space Gallery, Whanganui, from 28 May.
