
The Meaning of Style is an exhibition now showing at the New Art Exchange in Nottingham, England Jan 16 – 10 April, 2010. The exhibition explores the presence of African-Caribbean men in Britain over the past forty years and takes its name from cultural theorist Dick Hebdige's classic text Subculture: The Meaning of Style published in 1979 that would transform the way that we view youth and their modes of resistance today. In much the same way that Hebdige explored the fashion of that time including Rastafari, Mods, Rockers, Skinheads and Punks, this exhibition shows how Black-British youths through the dissonance of their dress, hair and gesture use popular culture styles from sources such as Jamaican dance hall and American hip-hop to give themselves agency and visibility. Artists included in the exhibition are Vanley Burke, Clement Cooper, Micheal Forbes, Gerard Hanson, and Barbara Walker who working in different media present a bold statement about the influence of black culture on contemporary Britain. But as challenging as these portraits are it is tempting to consider how they might match up against the works of other Black Diaspora artists such as Ebony Patterson, O'Neil Lawrence and Lawrence Graham Brown whose works also search for substance within style.
Jamaica is saddened by the loss of another of its stalwart artists 
The New Year starts with a bang for the black diaspora when TATE Liverpool mounts Afro-Modern - Journey's Through the Black Atlantic this month (29 January – 25 April 2010). It's an ambitious exhibition that looks at art from both sides of the Atlantic between 1909 and the present, using as its starting point Paul Gilroy’s view that the African Diaspora’s experience of trans-shipment and relocation was an entirely modern one that transformed them. The contingency of their New World lives shaped their formation of imagined communities and identities.
It's good to see that the Caribbean exhibition Rockstone and Bootheel curated by Kristina Newman-Scott and Yona Backer for RealArt Ways is getting such good press. Benjamin Genochio writing for the New York Times describes it as " a mind-opening selection of artwork that is by turns colorful, messy, playfully witty and downright noisy" and discusses the work of some of its outstanding artists such as Blue Curry, Ebony G.Patterson, Peter Rickards. Although the presentation is cramped Genochio does not mind he writes: "It is hopelessly over-stuffed, case perhaps of the curators' being overly ambitious with the material. But none of this matters because the overall quality is so good that you are bouncing from one great work to the next. It's an exciting ensemble".
If you are not yet acquainted with Caribbean Art World Magazine (CAW) you can link to it
David Boxer, one of Jamaica's most renowned artists, has a history of in situ exhibitions that are all the more successful because of the elegance of his personal space and his curator skills that ensure his art is always displayed to advantage. These shows short-circuit Kingston's commercial galleries and let Boxer speak directly to his visitors in persuasive ways. Such intimacy also provides insulation from public critique. But with 
Rockstone and Boot Heel,
















