Jeram Patel’s abstract works are on view at Kolkata based Harrington Street Arts Centre. His new solo exhibition of recent Works bears testimony to the potency of his oeuvre. The Baroda-based artist is considered one of the doyens of his era. His is one of the foremost names on the Indian art scene that formulated a new visual identity and method of abstraction.The most striking about his art practice is the vibrancy and energy it generates. In the present suite of works, he has primarily only black & white. He alludes to no real or fathomable form as such. Like those of his famous contemporary, Jagdish Swaminathan, his works are replete with a strong suggestive force taking a physical form at times. They evoke mystical mental states. His paintings exploit the latent potential of juxtaposing black & white.
Born in 1930 in Gujarat, he studied drawing and painting at Sir JJ School of Art, Mumbai, and later at typography and publicity design at Central School of Arts and Craft, London. The veteran artist has had solos in London, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai apart from representing India at the Tokyo Biennale (1963), the Sao Paulo Biennale (1963), the Third World Biennale at Baghdad (1980) and the Festival of India, London (1982).
A recipient of the National Award from the LKA (1957, 1963, 1973 and 1984) and National Award for Design (1976), he has also won a silver medal from the Bombay Art Society (1960). He was awarded Emeritus Fellowship from the Government of India in 1994. Jeram Patel was till recent associated with the Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda University.
The recent canvases unleash a force of tremendous magnitude. His ‘boxes’ exude a more soothing feel with the wedges, grooves and geometric shapes that have been hollowed into mirror-like surfaces. The sides demarcated with lines like concentric tree rings, some with chips of colored ceramic at their bottom are akin to fixed forms. At times, this creates an illusion of movement just like shreds of clouds on the skin of a lake.
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