‘Wells Clouds Skulls’ at Bose Pacia, New York

‘Wells Clouds Skulls’ marks artist Gieve Patel’s second showcase with Bose Pacia gallery. The exhibit includes new large-scale paintings from his ‘Looking into a Well’ series along with select drawings from his critically acclaimed cloud and skull series. For over two decades, he has been exploring his pet theme of wells. His paintings invariably have revolved the theme.

It has been another significant development in his career spanning across four decades. He started with an in-depth introspection of human figures placed in very tactile and rather unapologetic situations. He has spent an extensive time and energy looking, (here looking is the operative word…) into wells, to suggest a significant maturation in his own conceptual trajectory.

Gieve Patel was able to draw the viewer’s attention to the very basic cycles of life through oft-shocking and thought provoking studies of individuals in all possible levels of Indian culture, in his earlier paintings. A sensitive and deft handling of the subjects prompted issues of quotidian existence and value.

The artist is able to ever more potently explore the cycle of one’s own life by creating a metaphor for self-observation and awareness via the ebb and flow of light, structure, foliage, and sky reflected in his wells. He does so by doing away with the reflected subject/ self from his ‘well paintings’ series.

It is with an inexhaustible drive that he manages to capture those active nuances of observation that mesmerizes the viewer. Patel draws his inspiration from various human situations. He sees a sense of poetry even in the rough situations that humans have to face and his paintings are a manifestation of this.

The common man performing everyday routine chores is a regular facet of his work. His work reveals his proficiency as a keen observer of things around: the clothes, the stances and the postures he encounters. The same are reproduced in his work.