Ketna Patel

Ketna Patel (born 1968) is a British-Indian pop artist. Born in East Africa, educated in UK, and based in South East Asia and India for the last twenty five years, she uses her training in Design and Architecture to map observations gleaned from her travels onto an existentialist, yet to be defined new global anthropology that is fast emerging. Having transplanted her studio from Singapore to two 'travelling studios' in the UK and India, she describes herself as being deeply tri-cultural; grounded in an evolving human identity beyond the rapidly evaporating boundaries of culture, nationality and geography. She believes that for most artists, there is no divide between their ‘private’ life and their ‘professional’ output. All realisations and insights gleaned from inter-personal relationships, travels, media etc can be transmuted into a heightened awareness / expression of where human society is at today, and possibly where it may be heading towards.

Intrigued with stories of ordinary people, Ketna's studio in Singapore became an experiment in communal living and an 'organic' artist collective.[1]

Career

K Patel's work has been exhibited at Museums, Galleries and Art Fairs all over the world. Aside from having won awards such as the ASEAN Art Award in 2002, Her Art has also been much sought after by the Entertainment Business. Some of her clients include IIFA (International Indian Film Academy) and Hollywood Director Spike Lee. A voracious photographer, she was recently invited by SONY to be a brand ambassador for their digital camera advertising campaign, which was beamed to millions of people all over the world for more than six months. She has licensed her artwork for many applications; the last being an ongoing contract with the giant Austrian Furniture maker ADA to make Art bed headboards inspired by European history. Likewise, her Asia Pop collection, a series celebrating popular asian street culture by giving a voice to the invisible and marginalised[2] was used as inspiration for fashion label AllDressedUp's Spring/Summer 2010 collection which was shown in 25 countries. She regularly supports charity / fund raising initiatives e.g in April 2015, she was invited by Singapore's AWARE and WOAM (Women on a mission) to stage a solo exhibition to raise money for the recent Nepal earthquake. In 2012, she painted a giant fibreglass elephant for the internationally famous ‘Elephant Parade’, and in the same altruistic vein, was also recently was a brand ambassador for ‘KIEHLS’, the cosmetic company to raise money for autism. In 2011, Tata Motors (India) commissioned her to convert one of their ‘Nano’ Cars into a work of Art, which she did using Italian glass mosaic by SICIS. Recently, the Salsali Private Museum in Dubai acquired and exhibited her now famous artwork ‘Asian Grandfathers’. Aside from being commissioned by several hotels and restaurants in Singapore and the U.K, Patel has participated in talks, workshops and exhibitions worldwide. Her works continue to be collected and exhibited in numerous institutions and international private collections.

Alongside her studio work, from 2013 – 2018, Ketna has been organizing and participating in ‘Rural – Urban’ divide village projects in India and the U.K. to continue investigating the ramifications of Globalization on 'Identity', 'Populism' and 'Nationhood'.Poonam, Goel (July 2016). "Painted Rooftops". Shubh Yatra. Vol. 4 no. 6.

In 2018, she was presented with the UK-India Youth leader award, and consequently selected to be part of the steering committee for the Commonwealth Business Women’s network (both headquartered in London). Ketna is also a member of the non profit Thinktank organization ‘BRIDGEINDIA’

Ketna Patel has been featured in Bridget Tracy Tan's 'Women Artists of Singapore',[3] Jane Leong's 'Contemporary Artists in Singapore'[4] and Tatjana Schantz Johnsson's 'Decorating Asia'.[5]

References
  1. Amita, Sarwal (Oct 2011). "Inside Outside". Asian Pop. No. 316.
  2. Findlay Ian. "A decade of transitions. (2007)". Asian Art News. Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  3. Bridget Tracy Tan (2011). Women Artists in Singapore. Select Pub. ISBN 978-981-4022-78-1.
  4. "Young Contemporary Artists in Singapore". Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  5. Tatjana Schantz Johnsson; Marión Bravo-Bhasin; Serena Narain (2007). Decorating Asia. Page One. ISBN 978-981-245-486-7.
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