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Ketna Patel is a typical example of globalization.  To date, she has lived in three different continents; Africa, Europe and Asia, each more than a decade.  No wonder then that her work threads through many realms. Her personal experiences, cultural immigration, observations of popular and high culture, the juxtaposition of external, material worlds on top of inner bewilderment……. To reflect the world, and her part in it, Ketna's works are usually not minimal affairs.

The intellectual / academic world, for her is limiting, and, in her opinion, has too often been used to justify or substantiate recent artistic expression, including architecture. Man does not live by decree or ideology, but by his or her own sense of purpose. The mass consciousness that belongs to the whole planet is emotive in its outset. First worlds misunderstand third worlds, and the wrath and the insecurity of the latter manifests itself in twisted episodes of contemporary life. More than ever, the world is busy, noisy, and explosive. There is heat in our bodies, from unexpressed words, to heat above us in the skies, from too much synthetic energy.

ONGOING LONGTERM PROJECT: PLANET POP

What is the relationship between art and mass culture?
Explore the shift from Art to Advertising as the largest stimuli for collective visual conditioning
Understand / explore further the consequences of social and economic differences between the first and third worlds today
Build communication bridges between cultures by showcasing everyday, ordinary life as opposed to stereotypes perpetuated by media
By validating and celebrating the individual, versus ‘the hive’
Prodding and poking the consequences of a world run by corporations
Breaking the mould of how ‘contemporary art’ is presented, viewed, appreciated and criticised today
Treating contemporary lifestyle as an organic art-form in itself
Collecting & collating various voices on the subject of alternative definitions of art… Encourage multiple readings / multiple associations of art expression
Often today, the value of Art is made up almost solely from clever marketing…… How do you feel about this?

I hope to amalgamate some of the above by re - presenting cultural information using alternative communication devices, and by blurring the lines between Art, Lifestyle, Marketing and Design. For example, a pop art café can take on more than just offering a variety of coffee. It can become a live installation where an individual is encouraged to bring to the fore his / her subconscious mind. Firstly by being attracted to the art object, then using it, and eventually having a rapport with it. One can access another’s opinions via utilitarian ‘art’. This can be done by sitting on it, wearing it, drinking from it, eating from it, reading it, writing it, looking at it, hearing it, etc. One person can start a sentence, and the other can finish it. I, like many others, wish to take ‘Art’ out of its traditional context of gallery / museum and bring it into everyday life. Hence the magnifying glass on popular culture.

My husband Jonathan and I run an independent Artists Studio with specific goals to promote dialogue between the third and first worlds using traditional and not so traditional channels of Art-communication. We are currently working with dancers, musicians, writers etc, so ART here is not just the visual only. If you are interested in what we do, or are thinking similarly, we welcome opportunities for collaboration / representation. Or we can join you in what you are doing!