Petrine Archer [.com]

A new book, The Art of Jamaica: A Prelude, written by art aficionado Wayne Lawrence and published by the Jamaican Guild of Artists, allows its artist members to speak directly to their viewing public without the trappings of art criticism or historical analysis. The formula for the book's content is simple, employing Lawrence as an interviewer who translates the ideas of eighteen guild artists into brief illustrated chapters which display their work and tell their life stories. In this way the book's production is a willful act that militates against the role of institutions such as the National Gallery of Jamaica or publications such as the Institute of Jamaica's Jamaica Journal that have traditionally retained the power to document and exhibit the nation's art and to determine which Jamaican artists receive greatest visibility. By self-publishing this book, the Jamaican Guild of Artists has undermined this authority and communicated the independent vision of its artists. And does it work ? – not really. For all its well-intentioned principles, these artist's narratives are weaker and less punchy than their art that often speaks silently but more powerfully against establishment views. Also, the decision to make this book 'A Prelude' initially showcasing living pioneer painters, means that the voices and imagery of younger members of the guild will have to wait for the sequel.

A second edition of Jamaican Art has just been released by LMH Publishing here in Kingston. Being a contributor has given me insight into the history of its production as well as its usefulness and flaws. First published in 1990, it was initially intended as an instructive coffee-table publication. It was heavily illustrated, offering up to three images per artist, and it boasted a text that surveyed Jamaican art's development over a span of sixty years. Because it was the first book of its type ever published on the subject of Jamaican Art it quickly became a research staple for students as well as collectors. Unfortunately, the initial print run was small and it very quickly disappeared from book shops.

This revised version has been a long time coming. With the new title Jamaican Art: Then and Now it documents art from an era of nationalism to the new millennium and adds three new chapters that feature contemporary artforms including, textiles, ceramics, photography, video, performance art and installations. Additionally, this edition has tried to accommodate those artists who did not make the cut twenty years ago but who have continued to exhibit successfully over the past two decades. It is still generously illustrated, although many of the pioneer artists have been reduced to one or two images to allow for the work of younger talent. With a bolder more modern typeface, a striking cover and updated biographies, this is a useful text for anyone interested in the subject. Although those who have the first edition may not consider its revisions substantive enough, it is certainly a must-buy for those who missed it the first time around.

The Jamaican art community is saddened by the recent death of artist and poet Seya Parboosingh. She died at 85 having spent more than fifty years here. Born Samila Joseph in 1925 in Allentown Pennsylvania, Seya changed her name in 1957 when she married expressionist painter Karl Parboosingh in New York. They moved to Jamaica the next year and with Karl's encouragement, Seya began painting and exhibiting alongside him. Their styles were remarkably different. His paintings were strident with bold, brash brushmarks that critiqued the social conventions he abhored. Seya was more introspective, reserving her poetic forms for domesticated scenes with young women that like In Sorrow (1977) seemed to blend a childlike imagination with adult poignancy. In 2000, over a number of weekly visits, I had the privilege of talking at length with Seya while we prepared an article about her life and work for the magazine Caribbean Beat. I will miss her. Read the article.

Last week, I examined final year painting displays at Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts. Without breaching confidentiality, I can say that it was a mixed bag offering images and installations that speak of the social and personal issues that artists are grappling with today. Issues range from intimate anxieties expressed with unique dreamworld imagery influenced by the psychanalysis of Freud and Jung, to contentious portraits referencing dance hall, exploitation and the black female body.

As an influential artist as well as the Chief Curator (Director Emeritus) of the National Gallery of Jamaica, David Boxer has had a significant impact on Jamaica’s art and its artists. He has consciously steered Jamaican art in new directions.

Boxer studied at medical school in the US, later switching to complete his doctorate in art history. He has had no formal art training. Nevertheless, his artistic vocabulary is sophisticated, stemming from an interest in artists such as Francis Bacon, Joseph Cornell and Joseph Beuys. He now works increasingly in series and was one of the first Jamaican artists to move ‘of the wall’ into environmental and installation art. Canvas, paper, boxes, found-objects and furnishings are all integrated within his displays, as he works to enshrine, dramatise and expound his themes. As an accomplished classical pianist, his themes are like musical suites, each phrase being worked in detail only then to be combined into a major orchestration.

Using and subverting grand narratives, Boxer tackles ideas rarely articulated n Jamaican society, in particular, the taboo issues of sexuality. More recently. he has been pre-occupied with issues related to history, slavery and political traumas as they arise throughout the world. The Milky Way: A Postscript (1991-93) was part of his response to the bombing of Baghdad during the first Iraqui War. For Boxer, it seemed incredible that even in Jamaica one could witness the atrocities of that war, courtesy of the cable news networks which make Jamaica virtually a satellite of the USA and its culture. Boxer’s initial response was to create an installation that was first exhibited at the National Gallery of Jamaica in 1991 in the exhibition Aspects III: Eight Avant Garde Artists. When the piece was dismantled, he decided to retain the imagery in his postscript of works on paper.

Certain ‘leitmotifs’ or ‘icons’ recur throughout Boxer’s imagery. In Memories of Colonisation (1983) and Violin D’Ingres (1986) the fragmented and gauzed human form, the African Tchi Wara mask, renaissance images and musical notations are spliced and collaged; personal and cultural imagery inserted is disruptive, he cuts and replaces so neatly and decisively, like a surgeon, that the overall effect is one of completeness. He explains:

“Very often in my work, I’m trying to deal with bringing together two cultures. I have African ancestry, I have English ancestry and the two cultures clash. This clash is witnessed in my Memories of Colonisation series set in English palaces with the African masks invading them…”

Boxer’s use of African masks is symbolic, if not ritualistic. He incorporates them within these new settings as a way of maintaining the black presence; although they are merely cut-outs, the plastic surgery he executes on them is intended, as he says, to ‘activate and revitalize’ them.