Currently a practicing artist HETAIN PATEL graduated from Nottingham Trent University in 2003 with a BA(hons) in Fine Art. Following brief freelance commercial photography work in fashion and music, his career as an artist began in 2004 when his first residency at 20-21 Visual Arts Centre in North Lincolnshire culminated in his first solo exhibition.
In the same year Hetain exhibited in a two person show with Chila Kumari Burman, and in recognition of his creative and professional endeavours, he was awarded the prestigious ‘Decibel Award' from Arts Council England, East Midlands. Since then he has been the subject of two solo monographs and has received attention from national and international press including India Today, The Guardian, The Times Higher Educational Supplement and was documented for BBC 1's Made in England and BBC 2's Desi DNA. He won the title of Nottingham Creative Business of the year 2008, and more recently was shortlisted for the Satyajit Ray Short Film Award, celebrated at BAFTA. Hetain's rapidly increasing profile stems from his multifaceted work interrogating language and cultural identity. With his work now encompassing video, sound, live art, performance and dance, he is always open to working outside of his comfort zone: In 2006 he collaborated with his tabla teacher, artist and musician Ansuman Biswas in a durational twelve hour drumming performance. At this time Hetain was also on the steering committee for Sideshow, an international art festival held in Nottingham running along side the British Art Show 6.

Hetain has exhibited his work both nationally and internationally, including Emerging Discourses, at Bodhi Art, New York, All Our Tomorrows in Luneburg, Germany curated by Shaheen Merali, and Young British Art in Cieszyn, Poland. He recently completed a tour of his live/installation project Sine Language nationally in collaboration with beatboxer Jason Singh, and represented the U.K in the BJCEM International Art Biennale in Bari, Italy, where his work was received with great enthusiasm by European press, including MTV Italy.

Hetain's sought after photographic and video works have started a collectorship which include auction sales along side works from Damien Hirst and Andy Warhol. His live practice continues to make its mark with works showcased at Tate Britain, in Kaunas, Lithuania as part of the Textile Biennale, and at the National Centre for Dance, Bucharest. These works formed part of Hetain's development as Artist-in-residence at Lakeside Arts Centre, Nottingham from 2005 - 2008, and provided a platform for him to collaborate across disciplines with dancer Shane Shambhu (Complicite) and musician Ling Peng, leading to more recent collaboration with dancer Matthias Sperling (Random Dance, Siobhan Davies). As a result of this he is soon to premiere TEN, his first piece for theatre as part of nottdance09, Nottingham's international festival of experimental dance and performance. This eclectic approach to arts practice is particularly valued at Déda, Derby's Dance Centre, where he is currently a board member, and Arts Council, East Midlands where he serves on the Regional Council.

Continuing to diversify his research Hetain is currently working with Electrical Engineers to facilitate the use of live heartbeat within performance and installation works, which he is developing both in the U.K and in Chongqing, China where he was artist-in-residence throughout May and June 2009 at 501 Arts Space.

http://www.hetainpatel.com/

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