Trinidad

Round in circles.....

Submitted byJeeraik009 onFri, 03/11/2011 - 04:55

 

Since Peter Minshall's departure from Trinidad's annual masquerade competition, Brian MacFarlane has led the way in innovative costume design by improving and refining his mas every year. View the Gallery for MacFarlane's Mas.

Humanity: The Circle of Life is MacFarlane's production for Carnival 2011, and many, including the artist himself, believe that it is his best ever. The concept of life with all its joys and tribulations has inspired MacFarlane to execute multiple designs using a diverse range of materials on portable wired frames that exude an Alice in Wonderland type fantasy. His overarching design principle is the use of black and white, consistently employed with shades of silver to unite the eleven band sections that include themes such as Birth, Baptism, Prayer, Male & Female, Love, Workers, Knowledge and TimeOne might have expected this duo-chrome approach to become monotonous, especially with such a large band. But MacFarlane's lucid interpretations, ingenious use of shape and form, and imaginative accessories, keep the band's sense of movement and vibrancy alive from section to section. Perhaps his most elaborate accessory is hats inspired by such forms as clocks, workman's helmets, papal crowns and ethnic wraps, that lavishly distinguish one group from another.

Winning for the fifth time in a row this week, MacFarlane admitted that the beads and tinsel of most of the other bands presented little competition. Those who enjoy carnival as art, however, appreciated  the dignity with which masqueraders of all ages and races wore Humanity's universal theme. Crossing the Queen's Park Savannah stage late at night, the band was a mass of shimmering forms that inspired revelers and spectators alike and sealed MacFarlane's claim to the Minshall legacy. View the Gallery

Rex Dixon

As a youth, Rex Dixon first attended art college in Stourbridge, he was part of that initial wave of working-class students who recognized their difference when confronted with middle-class dominated art institutions. His preference for abstraction as expounded by the American action painters can be seen as an early decision in favour of Internationaliam, rather than British parochialism, and the confinement that that represented. A later decision to live in Ireland and Jamaica teaching, and now Trinidad, underscored his ability to identify with other cultures outside of his own, with little remorse.

Carnival 08

Submitted byJeeraik009 onFri, 02/08/2008 - 17:22

We’ve just returned from carnival in Trinidad. It was intense. The first days away were spent visiting pan yards and restaurants before the Port of Spain gave itself over completely to street food and carnival competitions. In the end, time ran out and Monday morning’s masquerade called jouvert found us bleary eyed but enthralled by its night devils, and the muddy throng who came out to play. Earth