HETAIN PATEL, ONE OF THE BEST BRITISH VISUAL ARTISTS OUT THERE TODAY, IS SHOWING HIS ‘DON’T LOOK AT THE FINGER’ EXHIBITION AT THE TATE ST IVES GALLERY UNTIL MONDAY 1 MAY 2023. AN ARTISTIC DISPLAY LIKE NO OTHER…
Throughout the UK and Europe, Bolton-born Hetain Patel has stirred emotions through his art. The visual artist, who specialises in videography, photography, performance and sculpture, explores the British identity, race, gender, disability and class through his engaging artworks.
Patel’s ‘Don’t Look at the Finger’ exhibition is at the Tate St Ives gallery in St Ives until Monday 1 May 2023. It began in January. His work in the exhibition ‘reflects on how cultural identity is communicated through performance and popular culture’, say the gallery team.
It’s all based on Patel’s 2017 film ‘Don’t Look at the Finger’, which he wrote and directed. The short follows the ‘rituals of a West-African wedding ceremony in a church’, says the team at the gallery, adding that the title ‘references a quote by Bruce Lee’ from iconic 1973 kung fu epic ‘Enter the Dragon’.
Hetain Patel grew up in multicultural Britain, so Hollywood films were a source of escapism for the artist. They were also a subject of shared interest with his peers. The ‘Don’t Look at the Finger’ short ‘combines familiar cinematic tropes with cross-cultural references’, with ‘actors of West African heritage performing East Asian martial arts, wearing costumes inspired by Japan and Mongolian dress that are made using Dutch wax fabric, commonly worn by West African communities at times of celebration’.
This work at the Tate St Ives gallery has been ‘chosen in response to themes of dance, staging and the interaction of figures in the corresponding Tate St Ives exhibition Barbara Hepworth: Art & Life. Head over there before Monday 1 May to enjoy the work of a unique British artistic talent.