Due to an Obscure Reason: Biraaj Dodiya and Gieve Patel in Dialogue at Frieze No.9 Cork Street, London
London, UK – Frieze No.9 Cork Street hosts a compelling two-person exhibition titled Due to an Obscure Reason, featuring Mumbai-based contemporary artist Biraaj Dodiya and the late Gieve Patel (1940–2023). Presented by Vadehra Art Gallery and curated by acclaimed British curator Linsey Young, the show opens on 22 May 2025 and remains on view until 8 June 2025.
The exhibition brings together Dodiya’s new body of paintings and sculptural works with a selection of Patel’s intimate and incisive paintings. Across two generations, the artists share an enduring inquiry into the human condition, the relationship between body and landscape, and the quiet psychosocial dramas of lived experience.
Biraaj Dodiya: Painting as Topography of Emotion
Known for her tactile, process-driven practice, Biraaj Dodiya explores ephemerality, uncertainty, and bodily memory through painting and sculpture. In this new body of work, she presents vessel-like forms and faceted paintings that evoke both landscapes and anatomy, questioning whether one can map emotion or trauma through abstract forms.
Image Courtesy- Vadehra Art Gallery
Curator Linsey Young notes:
Biraaj Dodiya’s work is relentlessly unsteady, mutable… Her process centers the durational aspect of making, of sitting with multiple canvases, building and erasing marks. The work is abstract but constantly slippery… a material reflection of the discomfort of living with uncertainty.
Dodiya’s earthy palette—muted browns, greens, ochres, and pinks—offers fleeting glimpses into a world that is physical yet always just out of reach. Her work here is as much about painting as a meditative act as it is about resistance to collapse—of body, of meaning, of image.
A Dialogue with Gieve Patel
In Due to an Obscure Reason, Dodiya finds an intellectual and emotional companion in Gieve Patel, one of India’s most celebrated modern artists and poets. She cites his poetry—particularly the line “All these insides / that have for a lifetime / raged and strained to understand”—as central to her exploration of absence, memory, and transformation.
Patel’s works on view reflect his deeply empathetic visual language, concerned with vulnerability, mortality, and the inner life. A self-taught artist and trained physician, Patel brought a unique intensity to figuration and psychological portraiture. His compositions carry both social critique and personal introspection, often highlighting quiet but profound moments of existential weight.
Image Courtesy- Vadehra Art Gallery
Young writes:
Dodiya has selected a number of paintings by friend and mentor Gieve Patel to show in conversation with her own. The work of both artists interrogates the impact of physical, intellectual, and emotional experience on our lives.
The pairing allows for a meaningful cross-generational dialogue—between grief and resilience, silence and expression, absence and material presence.
Curated by Linsey Young
Image Courtesy- Vadehra Art Gallery
The exhibition is curated by Linsey Young, former Curator of British Contemporary Art at Tate, and most recently the mind behind Women in Revolt! Art and Activism in the UK 1970–1990, a landmark exhibition at Tate Britain. Young’s curatorial approach emphasizes intersectional narratives, lived experiences, and the interplay between personal and political expression—elements resonant throughout Due to an Obscure Reason.
About the Artists
Biraaj Dodiya (b. 1993, Mumbai) is a contemporary visual artist working primarily in painting and sculpture. Educated at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and NYU, she has exhibited globally at institutions including Experimenter (Kolkata and Mumbai), Galerie Derouillon (Paris), and Bureau (New York). Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Art India Magazine, The Telegraph India, and others. Dodiya was recently awarded residencies at Civitella Ranieri (Italy), Rondo (Mexico City), and Pioneer Works (New York, upcoming in Fall 2025).
Image Courtesy- Vadehra Art Gallery
Gieve Patel (1940–2023) was a leading voice in Indian modern art, known not only for his painting but also for his poetry, plays, and medical practice. His artistic oeuvre focused on everyday life, violence, class, and ecology, often rendered with a raw, visceral immediacy. His works have been shown at Peabody Essex Museum, NGMA Delhi, Barbican Centre London, and Bose Pacia New York, among others. He was the recipient of the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, Rockefeller Fellowship, and a writer-in-residence grant from the University of Pennsylvania.
About Vadehra Art Gallery
Vadehra Art Gallery, founded in 1987, is one of India’s premier contemporary art institutions. Based in New Delhi, the gallery has long been a vital platform for South Asian art, representing modern masters like M.F. Husain, Ram Kumar, and S.H. Raza, alongside contemporary figures such as Atul Dodiya, Shilpa Gupta, and Gauri Gill. Through exhibitions, publications, and international collaborations, Vadehra fosters deep engagement with both Indian and global audiences.
Feature Image Courtesy- Gieve Patel, Vadehra Art Gallery
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