A Show of Hands

A celebrated cornerstone of the Indian art community, Gieve Patel passed away in 2023. His oeuvre exemplified a passionate concern for the psychological complexities of the subaltern human condition, surviving their indistinct everydayness and emerging resilient in the face of hardship, inequality and violence. Patel’s compositions ascribe a narrative depth to observed realities in a steadily modernizing post-colonial India, particularly around his home city of Mumbai, articulated in charged arrangements of imbued forms, performative actions and emotional consequences that invoke the reactive underbelly of cultural strife.

In the exhibition, curator Ranjit Hoskote sets out to honour Gieve Patel’s vibrant legacy as an artist, poet and playwright by bringing together a diverse cohort of artists who either formed Gieve’s inner circle, engaged with his artistic sensibilities, or in whose work he displayed a sustained interest. Hoskote shares: “The exhibition is titled A Show of Hands – this image bringing to mind both an affirmative vote and, more literally, an assembly of diverse styles and media that are, nevertheless, united in their connection with Gieve.”

In paying tribute to Gieve’s life and work, the participating artists gather ideas and postulate themes that the artist held close as influences at a conceptual and painterly level, including the vulnerability of the human subject; philosophies on mortality and its representation through the image; the reflexive relationship between a cultivated consciousness and an infinite world of sensations and experiences; investigating and bearing witness to otherness; the persistence of art historical references; and the dialogue between figuration and abstraction, among others.


Words Platform Desk
Date 22.11.2024