Bharvi Trivedi

As Vincent Van Gogh quotes, "The great artist is the simplifier", and   simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. "It's my Expression" , a solo show by Shri Surendra Patel displays a series of collages, that pulls us out from the mundane, exposing us to a world that talks about simple ways of expressions. No fancy stories, no expensive materials these are all simple expressions of an artist portrayed in the most simple way with varied subjects. Engaging us to think as to how art involves and evolves. Shri Surendrabhai Patel, the owner of Vishalla Restaurant and now an enthusiast artist has an experience of more than 5 decades as a designer. He says he never plans what he would paint or do collage of. He simply begins with a piece and a shape of paper, surrenders himself allows the work to guide and gradually moves along the way, thus creating his artwork; be it mythology, forms or portraits. His experience, sense of aesthetics and design reflects prominently

"A Window to Heritage” the title itself gives us the glimpse of the cultural legacy that we uphold. At the recent show of Times Artiest 2020 curated by Priya Adhyaru Majithia, Roma Patel created and visually narrated this magnificent artwork taking us back to our roots. Her work was displayed on the long black brick wall outside the entrance. The display looked extremely interesting as if it being the entrance door where one would stop, light a diya and then step in.  Honourable chief minister Shri Vijay Rupani followed the ritual of lighting the diya and inaugurated the show Talking about her artwork, She has meticulously picked up every piece of carved ol d wood from different places and created this big window with a gokhlo in the centre. In our Hindu culture at every good occasion a diya is lit invoking the blessing of the divine. Gokhlo is a place where diya is lit every morning and evening. It is a beautiful ritual of praying and embracing the prosperity and well

Visually aesthetically interesting and conceptually very strong is what I felt when I saw Rakesh Patel’s recent art work titled “LAKSHMI INCARNATE”, that is on display at the recently concluded TIMES ARTFEST 2020 show @ Amdavad ni Gufa. The show was curated by Ms Priya Adhyaru Majithia  At the entrance a huge revolving bottle was on display, that was created using materials like wood, computer circuits, brass and SS sheets. Rakesh has  metaphorically used these materials and significantly portrayed our more than 600-year-old walled city of Amdavad. Looking at his work we can barely move forward without feeling the vastness and the richness of the legacy that we truly belong to. There is a story of Manekbaba and king Ahmed shah out of which this entire concept was shaped. It narrates how king Ahmed Shah tricked Manekbaba out of his own smartness and convinced him to build the teen darwaja and the city. At Teen Darwaja even today it is one muslim family that invariably lights

" Vaarso " At the recent timesfest 2020 @ Amdavad ni Gufa, Vipul Prajapati’s artwork titled VAARSO was on display.  He is the recipient of National Award and the Pollock and Krasner Foundation Grant.  Vipul is a techno freak artist who loves exploring and working with varied materials and his inquisite nature reflects in his work. His love for graphite is evidently visible in his work. He understands the dynamics of the materials and accordingly brilliantly incorporates them in his work. Here Vipul has created a walled backgrou nd representing real amdavad as the walled city. He has used the image of one of the oldest building, the Premabhai hall, as it associates with his stroke of brush with this place. Vipul has made a huge brush that ironically talks about development that is happening all around at the cost of our heritage.  His work is representational in nature at the same time urging us to be little more sensitive and sensible of what we are up to. Here VAAR