Rising above the bland abstracts and stereotypical Asian-themed art/décor for export, is a spontaneous art movement; a new generation of young Asian artists that are drawing upon the diverse imagery of their culture and morphing it into loud and punchy images that demand attention. And it would appear refreshingly clear, that their objective is not just to do something "modern", but to reflect and express an Asia that is undergoing radical social magnification. One such body of work is that produced by the award-winning Ketna Patel. Ketna is a well-travelled African-born, western-educated Indian, who resides in Singapore. "I'm like so many Asians," she says "happily culturally schizophrenic, yet deeply grounded in an evolving Asian culture."
Ketna goes on to say "artists have a responsibility to reflect and project the changing society they live in." And for Ketna, this translates into powerful Asian images recently transmuted through pop art. Her results provoke the senses. Diverse religious icons, the extremes of real life and the rigid chaos of the Asian social landscape are extruded through loud and proud electric colors - that almost makes it advertising or perhaps art-vertising, "I try to compress an illustrious past, a changing present and a rapidly unfolding future, so the observer gets multiple messages" explains Ketna, "in a few seconds they have to get the message - this is Asia, this is what I see".