Exploring ties with everyday objects

AHMEDABAD: Before dissolving into the background, the objects in the 'Extensive Space' of the canvas leave behind an imprint - hurriedly caught by the minimal strokes of charcoal. Subtle and ephemeral! Exploring the essence of
our fleeting relationships with the everyday objects is what city-based artist Arvind Patel exhibited at Ravishankar Raval Kala Bhavan.
"We often form relationships with inanimate objects. These objects inspire and command my attention. And deciphering their meanings through my work becomes an act of meditation," says the artist, who sometimes spends days working on the same painting. "Thus the surface of the painting is not a background anymore, it is the subject itself." Consequently, with over 15 layers, the textures formed on canvas demand the spectator's close inspection.
Some objects like the knife repeat frequently in his paintings. "For me, what an object is called doesn't matter. Its form interests me. Call it kitchen knife or butcher's knife or just an image! A viewer looks at the work from his own cultural baggage lending meanings to it," says Patel, who believes that viewing art is an intense process. "It's like listening to a ghazal time and again. Your relationship and engagement evolves over time."
Patel won the prestigious Lalit Kala Akademi award in August 2011,the only artist from the state that year. The three-day show which concluded on Monday was a preview to the exhibition to be conducted by the Akademi in New Delhi.