A show of hands for Gieve Patel, the artist-poet

The noted artist and writer Gieve Patel’s passing last year, in November 2023, was a huge loss not just to art and literature in India, but to the sense that he was part of the fraternity of artists building the new India.

Patel (August 1940-November 2023) first exhibited his works at Jehangir Art Gallery in Mumbai in 1966. His first poetry collection, ‘Poems’, came out the same year, too. Over the decades, his contribution to both art and literature was immense. If his poem ‘On Killing A Tree’ is oft-quoted as a powerful metaphor for destruction of nature, his painting ‘Crows with Debris’ is a powerful work that packs in pain, pleasure, survival of the fittest, et al, in one.

With ‘A Show of Hands’, an exhibition at Vadehra Art Gallery in New Delhi, curator Ranjit Hoskote sets out to honour Patel’s vibrant legacy as an artist and poet, as also playwright, by bringing together a diverse cohort of artists. Commemorating one year of his death, the exhibition showcases works by the likes of Gulammohammed Sheikh, Nilima Sheikh, Ranbir Kaleka, Jitish Kallat, Atul Dodiya, Sudhir Patwardhan, Sujith SN, Aditi Singh, Anju Dodiya, Areez Katki, Biraaj Dodiya, Mahesh Baliga and Ratheesh T.

Along with artists like Ghulammohammad and Bhupen Khakhar, Patel, who was also a practising doctor, brought a fresh perspective to the art scenario in the country in the 1960s. “His oeuvre exemplified a passionate concern for the psychological complexities of the subaltern human condition, surviving their indistinct everydayness and emerging resilient in the face of hardship, inequality and violence,” the release states.

“Patel’s compositions ascribed a narrative depth to observed realities in a steadily modernising post-colonial India, particularly around his home city of Mumbai, articulated in charged arrangements of imbued forms, performative actions and emotional consequences that invoke the reactive underbelly of cultural strife.”

The press release quotes Hoskote as saying, “The exhibition is titled ‘A Show of Hands’ — this image bringing to mind both an affirmative vote and, more literally, an assembly of diverse styles and media that are, nevertheless, united in their connection with Gieve.”

The exhibition is on till January 10.