My work began as a way of finding my own relationship with myself and the divine.

My name is Rakesh Patel and I am an artist.

I come from a family of farmers and my father owned a hardware business. As a child I had an simple and honest relationship with the earth, and through my father’s business, an unusual opportunity to explore materials and mechanisms.

Perhaps my interest in found objects has to do with the hardware store. As a student I loved visiting Sunday markets and picking up discarded objects. Later as I grew in my practice these visits became a regular habit and my love for found objects grew even more, what started as an obsession with collecting, pivoted towards creating artworks that would give meaning to these objects.

Red Eye in my Courtyard honours my objects. I have collected wooden blocks from scraps and assembled them to create an courtyard/altar which is a reflection of myself and of the culture that I belong to. The form of the Eye and the Bindi is used to reflect the faith, focus and diversity within Indian society, I continue to explore these themes in my work. Temple architecture, the vibrant colours and textures of India, even fragrance, has a major impact on my practice.