Trupti Patel was born in Nairobi in 1957. She studied for an MA in sculpture at the Faculty of Fine Arts, MS University of Baroda, India (1974-82) and- with a British Council Scholarship- an MA in ceramic sculpture at the Royal College of Art, London (1983-85). Solo exhibitions have been held at the Hatheesing Art Gallery, Ahmedabad (1983), the Museum of Mankind, Student Showcase, London (1986), the Hannah Peschar Sculpture Garden, Ockley (1995) and Chelmsford and Essex Museum, Chelmsford (1996). Trupti Patel's work has also been included in many group exhibitions in India, Europe and America…
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Trupti Patel was born in Nairobi in 1957. She studied for an MA in sculpture at the Faculty of Fine Arts, MS University of Baroda, India (1974-82) and- with a British Council Scholarship- an MA in ceramic sculpture at the Royal College of Art, London (1983-85). Solo exhibitions have been held at the Hatheesing Art Gallery, Ahmedabad (1983), the Museum of Mankind, Student Showcase, London (1986), the Hannah Peschar Sculpture Garden, Ockley (1995) and Chelmsford and Essex Museum, Chelmsford (1996). Trupti Patel's work has also been included in many group exhibitions in India, Europe and America.
Her work has always been centred on the human figure and the human condition. Early works in India were cast in plaster, and she gradually moved towards leaving her work in its original modelled state in clay, which was then fired. Indian terracotta is famous for its plasticity and for the rich red colour, which absorbs and deflects Indian light to reveal form and texture to a degree unequalled by light in latitudes further north. She adds colour sparingly, usually working it into the body of the clay rather than applying it as paint to the surface.
Recurring themes in Trupti Patel's sculpture are the female form and issues surrounding the female role within the family and in society. Her upbringing in Africa and India, where women hold families together with subtle strength, has endowed her with insights, which have been endorsed be her subsequent exposure to changing Western values. Patel's way of working clay is sensuous and sensitive, with here and there a contrasting twist or abrasion to shock us into awareness that not all is voluptuous and calm- there is another, contrasting world of cruelty, pain and hurt which is persistent and inevitable.
