While the compressed or oblique narrative is one of Patel's primary inspirations, I would hazard the view that the crux of his work is the attempted reconcilation of a sensuously apprehended particularity, treasured in itself, and an implied universal, standing beyond the incarnate particularity of forms. It is Patel's achievement to have attempted reconcilation, not through the quasi-philosphical devices that some artists, costumed as mystics, have deployed, but through the most tangible instruments of the painter's craft - through image, gesture, scene, and by way of the most practical problems of how to paint water, stone, sky and the most compelling artistic testimony comes from a consciousness that has combined artisanal devotion with visionary experience.
- Ranjit Hoskote