Khushbu Patel is an Indian Artist. Her interdisciplinary art practice spans diverse mediums in various scales presented in form of installations (site specific/site responding), photography, performative photography, videos, drawings, and performance. Her interest revolves around the concept and idea of change, which she had tried to show through the process, subjects, concepts and her choice of medium. Her process has always been bound up in time. The time duration from beginning a piece of work till the end is what really holds the importance in her work, and brings us much closer to it. Things that arouse her interest have to do with the life of any living or inanimate object, the temporal quality of earthly existence and the inevitability of change and decomposition, the effect of time, its various marks, these are prime sources of fascination in her work.
Patel’s recent body of work is mainly about looking through the lens of abjection –talking about that which inherently disturbs conventional identity and cultural concepts. For her, this includes the notion of beauty, the impermanence of appearances and the permanence of essences. Her concern is also about questioning history: the way people have been defining beauty, the stereotypes in society, objectification of bodies and political objection.
Khushbu Patel’s has been part of couple of shows and residency programme recent one being Dharti Art Residency (serendipity art foundation) programme for three months, 2018. Kooshk Art Residency, one month Cultural Exchange Residency Programme between India and Iran, 2018; Khushbu was awarded the Drawing Research Residency in partnership between L’AiR ARTS at FIAP Paris and DRAWinternational, Caylus, France, 2019; a three month residency at Citi Internationale Des Arts, Paris, 2020. Part of one group show; Caressing History- A Draft for Body Based Historiography; at Gallery Shrine Empire, Delhi.
She is currently based and practicing in Vadodara, She studied Bachelors degree from Surat school of fine arts, Surat in 2015 and Masters degree in Art, Design and Performing Arts from Shiv Nadar University, Delhi in 2017.
“My art practice revolves around the concept and idea of change, growth, and deformation which I have tried to show through my process, subjects, concepts and my choice of medium. The process has been the most prominent link between different phases of my work. My process has always been bound up in time. The time duration from beginning a piece of work to the end is what really holds the importance of my process for me, and brings me much closer to it. Things that arouse my interest have to do with the life of any living or inanimate object, the temporal quality of earthly existence and the inevitability of change and decomposition, the effect of time, various marks and creaks on walls which go unobserved to the forefront of our attention, these are my prime sources of fascination. So through my works, I want to showcase the importance of taking notice unobserved spaces and exposed the hidden marks. My practice is mainly about looking through the lens of abjection –talking about that which inherently disturbs conventional identity and cultural concepts. For me, this includes, in my work first and foremost the notion of beauty, the impermanence of appearances and the permanence of essences. For me, art practice is like a walk. Sometimes I also feel that I’m crawling like a snail and the concepts and mediums that I work with fulfill the path. Every step leaves a mark behind, just like the snail’s slime.”