Hetain Patel

Hetain Patel
Patel in 2017
Born1980 (age 43–44)
Websitehttp://www.hetainpatel.com/

Hetain Patel (born 1980) is an English visual artist specializing in performance, sculpture, video, and photography. His work has been exhibited in Norway, India, Belgium, and the United Kingdom.

Early life and education

Patel was born and raised in a working class British Gujarati Asian household in Bolton, England. He was subjected to racial abuse, stating, "just walking from the house to the car was difficult."[1] As a child, Patel developed an interest in superhero movies, playing as Spider-Man in his grandmother's house.[1][2]

In addition to sci-fi and mainstream-influenced works (including work associated with pop-culture superheroes such as Spider-Man[3]), Patel experiments with addressing problems of multiculturalism and self-acceptance.[4] As Patel became older, his father, who worked at a day job converting cars, inspired him to create his first sculpture. Patel converted his first car, which was gifted by his father in 1997, into his first sculpture, Fiesta Transformer.[5] Patel's interest in movies such as Transformers led to its title, the Fiesta Transformer.[6]

He received a Diploma Foundation Studies in Art and Design from the University of Salford in 2000 and a BA Hons Fine Art in 2003 from Nottingham Trent University.

Work

Sacred Bodies (2004/5)[7] is a collection of self-portraits. To create each piece, he covered his upper body in patterns using henna (a pigment used for mehndi) and a red pigment, Kanku,[8] used for markings of cultural importance in Hindu communities.[9]

In 2013, he made his debut at the TED Global conference in Edinburgh.[10] In 2014, a UK-based dance company, Candoco, assigned Hetain Patel to create a choreographic art piece. Hetain uses minimal spoken word as parts of the performance through the usage of three languages: English, French, and British Sign Language.[11]

Oh Man (2018) was a collaborative project between Contact Youth Company and Hetain Patel that is about the positive qualities of masculinity and the problems caused by toxic masculinity.[12]

Selected exhibitions

Performance

  • Reflected Identity, Wolverhamptoon Art Gallery, UK, 2005[13]
  • TEN, British Council's Edinburgh Showcase in Edinburgh, UK, 2011[4]
  • Be Like Water, Royal Opera House in London, UK, 2013[14]
  • Let’s Talk About Dis, commission for dance company Condoco in London, UK and national tour, 2014[15]
  • American Boy, Coda Festival in Oslo, Norway, 2015[16][17]

Films and video

  • Musselm (2006)
  • Kankin Raga (2007)
  • Its Growing on Me (2008)
  • To Dance like your Dad (2009)
  • The First Dance (2012)
  • Mama (2012)
  • Being Chongquing (2012)
  • Maestro (2014)
  • Heaven & Earth (2014)
  • God is a DJ (2014)
  • The Jump (2015)[18]
  • The Other Suit (2015)
  • Don’t look at the Finger (2017)

Sculpture

  • Fiesta Transformer, C-Mine, Genk, Belgium, 2014[5][19]

Photography

  • Lagan, Bolten Museum and Art Gallery, UK, 2004[9]
  • At Home, Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai, India, and New Art Exchange, Nottingham, UK, 2012 and MAC Birmingham, UK, 2013/14[20]

Other exhibitions

  • Baa's Gold, Copperfield, London, UK, 2021[21]

Selected awards

  • Decibel Award awarded by Arts Council England, 2004[22]
  • Nottingham Creative Business of the Year, 2008[23]
  • Satyajit Ray Short Film Award, 2009
  • Jerwood Choreographic Research Project, 2017
  • Film London Jarman Award, 2019[24]
  • Best International Film awarded by Kino Der Kunst in Munich, Germany, 2020[25]

References

  1. ^ a b Jonze, Tim (26 November 2019). "How artist Hetain Patel went from Spider-Man fan to Spandex-clad star". the Guardian. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  2. ^ Patel, Hetain. "Letter to Peter Parker 2015". Hetain Patel. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  3. ^ www.horlix.com, James Hall @ HeX Productions |. "The Other Suit 2, 2015". Hetain Patel. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Hetain Patel - Edinburgh Showcase". edinburghshowcase.britishcouncil.org. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
  5. ^ a b Patel, Hetain. "Fiesta Transformer 2013". Hetain Patel. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  6. ^ www.horlix.com, James Hall @ HeX Productions |. "Fiesta Transformer 2013". Hetain Patel. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  7. ^ www.horlix.com, James Hall @ HeX Productions |. "Sacred Bodies 2004/5". Hetain Patel. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  8. ^ Patel, Hetain. "Sacred Bodies 2004/5". Hetain Patel. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  9. ^ a b "BBC Manchester - The Arts - Lagan - a new body of work by Hetain Patel". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  10. ^ Patel, Hetain (18 October 2013), Who am I? Think again, retrieved 9 September 2021
  11. ^ Bennett, Jayne. "Candoco explores identity and perception at Bristol Old Vic with and a cast of disabled and non-disabled dancers." Gazette Series [Dursley, England], 23 Jan. 2016. Gale OneFile: News, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A522497588/STND?u=inde80299&sid=bookmark-STND&xid=c67dcdb0. Accessed 26 Oct. 2021.
  12. ^ "Contact Young Company and Hetain Patel: Oh Man review – masculinity bites". the Guardian. 2 September 2018. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  13. ^ "Mehndi - Reflected Identity - Wolverhampton Arts & Culture". www.wolverhamptonart.org.uk. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
  14. ^ "Hetain Patel: Be Like Water –". www.lancasterarts.org. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
  15. ^ "Let's Talk About Dis". Candoco. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
  16. ^ "American Boy". Dansens Hus (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 9 September 2021.
  17. ^ "Aesthetica Magazine - Hetain Patel: American Boy, Sadler's Wells Theatre". Aesthetica Magazine. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  18. ^ "Cross-culture project brings leading South Asian artists to Manchester". www.theartnewspaper.com. 3 October 2017. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  19. ^ "Hetain Patel | Chatterjee & Lal". Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  20. ^ "HETAIN PATEL: AT HOME (PAST TOURING)". www.nae.org.uk. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  21. ^ "HetainPatelBaasGold". C Ø P P E R F I E L D. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  22. ^ Arts Council England; Annual review 2005; p.8
  23. ^ "Hetain Patel wins Nottingham Creative Business Award | IBEF". www.ibef.org. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  24. ^ "The Jarman Award 2019". Film London. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  25. ^ "Patel, Hetain". Kino der Kunst. Retrieved 10 September 2021.