Despite Milton George’s attempt to create a minimal expressionist style in the 1980s, his paintings remained complex. Even when he subdued his characteristic use of vibrant colour in favour of a darker palette, his work combusted. Energy emanated from the amount of visual information he provided, not merely in terms of subject matter, but in the urgency and fullness of his brush strokes, in the palpability of the pigment, and the way in which he could describe emotion in and of itself. When this was combined with his keen sense of observation and natural tendency towards satirical story-telling, his work was explosive.
Milton George was a Jamaican storyteller ‘par excellence’. His sources ranged from politics, male/female relationships, religion, the self and others whom he may have encountered while ‘trodding’ through Kingston. Underlying all these major themes was Milton’s recognition and commentary on the base motives of greed, lust, sin, and hypocrisy that underlie our daily actions. Jamaica provided the perfect playground for his scrutiny. He thrived on that cultures ambiguities; the tensions between political parties; the fantastic and often sordid nature of its preoccupations, and the hypocrisies of its so-called ‘Christian’ society.
Milton ability to negotiate identities allowed him to access many walks of life. His series of self-portraits are a record of his quixotic personality, painter, lover, pauper, Rasta, philosopher, all possible within his persona. In a manner that recalls ‘the pantomimicry’ of Caribbean Johnkunu, Milton could create orgiastic scenarios with supporting casts who were equally ambiguous. Such masquerading is an integral part of the Jamaican psyche. The ability to assimilate, accommodate, as well as to mask cruelty or sadness are traits learned through our history. Milton’s power to visualize us in our many roles reflected a clear understanding, not only of himself, but the society that he loved to paint.
Milton's paintings tell us about ourselves in ways that are not completely condemnatory. He is no prophet of doom; rather his paintings are a celebration of our frailty. There is something empowering about the viewer’s recognition of self in his paintings, even when it is at its most disturbing. For all their cryptic imagery, Milton’s art provokes a sense of ownership and pride. Even in this act of recognition, we are still allowed to laugh at ourselves.
© PA-S
Essay extracted and edited from the Home and Away exhibition catalogue, London, 1998