In pursuit of parallels

In the exhibition In pursuit of parallels, Chirag Patel presents a body of work shaped by a life rooted in Gujarat’s wilderness.

A graduate from the Faculty of Fine Arts, MSU Baroda, and a dedicated wildlife enthusiast, Patel has spent years immersed in the forests of Gir and Dang, working closely with the Forest Department and WWF on projects such as the lion census and educational camps for adults and children from a very early age. Fascinated by the mysteries of the forests, he had wanted to work within the forest department but chose to pursue his passion for the wilderness by pursuing the arts and choosing the woodlands as his preferred subject matter.

With its rare distinction of hosting all five major biomes, his birthplace, Gujarat, offers him a palette as varied as it is complex. These ecological environments helped him forge an intimate relationship with the lands that were at once his studio and sanctuary. His time in the wilderness, sometimes months at a stretch, was spent working on his projects for the forest department on documentation or data collection of lions, especially in Gir. In his ebony canvases, Patel captures the domestic familiarity of the lion, almost as if looking at a scene illuminated by the full moon in the night.

Spending his days over the seasons, tracking and tracing the movement of the lions and identifying different species, one thing Patel has perfected is to study the details. Reflected in his canvases, Patel perfectly portrays the transformations of these vistas; the greying stillness before a monsoon storm, the violet hues of a summer twilight, the shadows on the drying river beds, and the simmering embers of a peeking winter sun. These fleeting, often unnoticed intervals form the visual and emotional spine of his practice.

Patel’s paintings are built through an evolving process of addition and erasure. Using photo ink and acrylic, he works with thin layers, applying washes that are then partially removed before new layers are laid down. This technique allows the work to remain in flux until an image gradually emerges, that is, at once both intimate and atmospheric. It’s a method that echoes the stirring rhythms of the forest itself, slow, cumulative, and full of transient moments.

In Pursuit of Parallels, Patel attempts to capture and present the comparable terrains, each frame a distinct encounter, separated by time of day, season, or shifting light. These parallel views do not seek a definitive portrait, but instead evoke the layered temporality of the place, almost like witnessing a time-lapse in painting. Through this format, Patel invites us to experience the forest as he does: not as a fixed scene, but as a living continuum, where each moment leaves the audience captive, so as not to miss a sighting in the blink of an eye.