Prakash Patel

INFO

Name	Prakash Patel (he/him)
Born	1968
Country of Birth	Aotearoa
Place of Residence	Whanganui
Ethnicities	Indian (Gujarati)
Dealer Gallery	Kingsroy
Artform	Visual arts
Decades Active	1990s, 2000s, 2010s, 2020s

ABOUT

Prakash Patel is a painter who was born in Whanganui, where he continues to live and work. His grandfather emigrated to Tāmaki Makaurau in 1922 from the Indian state of Gujarat, and moved around the country before establishing a fruit and vegetable shop in Whanganui. Patel’s parents had an arranged marriage and moved to Aotearoa at different stages; his father at the age of 10 and his mother at 19. They inherited the fruit shop, where Patel spent much of his childhood.

Patel moved to Napier at the age of 17, where he began painting and drawing. These visual formats gave him a more comfortable way of communicating, whereas previously he had found verbal communication difficult. As he describes: “I really persisted with painting because I just felt like it was just essential for my mental health.” Patel graduated from Hawkes Bay Polytechnic in 1993 with a Diploma in Visual Arts and then returned to Whanganui, where he painted in an empty shop next to the family’s fruit shop. Eventually he rented a studio from potter Ross Mitchell-Anyon, where he remained for 26 years.

Patel’s paintings are devoid of distinguishable figures. Abstract shapes are used to create hypnotic compositions that seem equally celestial and oceanic, with stark black backgrounds used to showcase bright and sometimes metallic paints. In several of his paintings, he uses intricately dotted marks to construct grids that create ripple effects, with the use of a gradation of opacity and colour in his application of paint. In describing Patel’s work Luella Raj states:

At first sight Patel’s paintings appear deeply steeped in his Indian heritage with the use of bright iridescent colour, motifs and repeating patterns. When examined more closely, themes of cosmic spaces, deep underwater scenes with luminescent creatures or minuscule lifeforms from beneath a microscope appear. The paintings are beautiful and moving and provide the viewer with textured layers of conversation.

In 2007 Patel was featured in TVNZ’s television series Artsville, which followed his journey attending the residency programme at Sanskriti Kendra Campus in New Delhi, India. In the episode titled ‘Out of Darkness, Out of India’, Patel described feeling self-conscious and having difficulty connecting with his surrounding community in Whanganui. He describes noticing the cultural differences between himself, his family, and the majority of the inhabitants within the region, which led him to isolate himself. As he describes in the episode:

There was a moment where my mother came to bring my lunch to me because I forgot to take my lunch to school, so she walking past the field at playtime and half the kids that were playing on the field all rushed towards the fence to stare at my mother because she was wearing an outfit that I guess, was odd to them. I wondered why. I looked at her and thought she’s quite different — out of context almost. I started feeling more and more self conscious as I grew older into being a teenager and not going to parties. I started feeling less and less like other people. By the time I was at secondary school I was hardly talking to anybody.

As Patel has stated “I think there is a connection between my work and my mother and India.” When seeing his painting in the context of the Whanganui Arts Review for the first time, he felt a sense of embarrassment that was familiar to him, as he believed his painting was too different from the rest. “It stood out too much. The colours were too bright” — much like his mother’s clothes did in Whanganui when he was a child. Patel’s practice has since grown to embrace this difference: “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.”

LINKS

ArtZone interview with Prakash Patel

‘Out of Darkness, Out of India’, Artsville episode

Interview with Prakash Patel for Whare o Rehua Sarjeant Gallery

Prakash Patel Instagram

Prakash Patel Kingsroy Gallery profile

Key works / presentations

2023 — New Paintings by Prakash Patel, Orexart, Tāmaki Makaurau

2020 — Afterlife, Orexart, Tāmaki Makaurau

2019 — Imaginary Places, Zimmerman Gallery, Papaioea

2017 — New works, Zimmerman Gallery, Papaioea

2015 — Shimmermoon Mahara Gallery, Waikanai

2013 — New Paintings: Prakash Patel, Orexart Gallery, Tāmaki Makaurau

2012 —Telling Stories, The NZ Academy of Fine Arts, Te Whanganui-a-Tara

2012 — Featured Artist, Zimmerman Gallery, Papaioea

2010 — Border Crossing; Exhibition of Whanganui Artists’ Work, Lysaght Watt Gallery, Hawera

2008 — Orient, Orexart Gallery, Tāmaki Makaurau

2008 — Riverwork, Salamander Gallery, Christchurch

2007 — Karma Cloud, Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua , Whanganui 2006 — Exhibition of works by Prakash Patel, New Zealand High Commission, New Delhi, India

2005 — The Life, Salamander Gallery, Ōtautahi

2005 — Prakash Patel Solo, Gallery Dalgleish, Whanganui

2004 — The Distance, Christopher Moore Gallery, Te Whanganui-a-Tara

2004 — In The Middle of Nowhere, The Globe Gallery, Ahuriri

2004 — 15 Whanganui Artists, Gallery Dalgleish, Whanganui

2003 — Changing Rooms Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua , Whanganui

2003 — Water, Whanganui Community Arts Centre, Whanganui

2002 — Red, Letham Gallery, Tāmaki Makaurau

2002 — A4, Pataka Museum of Arts Culture, Porirua

2001 — Godflower, Salamander Gallery, Ōtautahi

2001 — Pond, Christopher Moore Gallery, Te Whanganui-a-Tara

2001 — Colour Black, Letham Gallery, Tāmaki Makaurau