Art

The search for authenticity...

Submitted byJeeraik009 onFri, 12/30/2011 - 16:03

 

This season's exhibitions, craft fairs, antique shows and xmas sales have left me questioning notions of value, especially around art and gift giving. In today's market place, where so much of what we buy is convenient and disposable, its tempting to buy gifts that are empty of significance. We lose sight of what true gifts represent and disengage ourselves from the process of giving, by choosing presents that are depersonalized and banal. Giving art militates against this sense of alienataion. Quality materials, precision workmanship, durability and inherent ideas help to distinguish art from dross. The next time you're tempted to buy trinkets or tinsel, remember that gift giving is a magical act of reciprocity that obliges us to another. Giving art serves to reinforce the social contract that bonds ourselves to others – giving art shows that we still care.

Rich display....

Submitted byJeeraik009 onTue, 11/08/2011 - 06:42

 

An exhibition exploring the Myths, Beliefs, Religions and Imagination in the Caribbean is on show in Martinique's Regional Council building in Fort de France this month. Organized by the Director of Culture Reneé-Paul Yung-Hing  , the multi-media display brings together contemporary work from the English, French and Spanish speaking islands including Cuba's Manuel Mendive, Martnique's Patricia Donatien-Yssa, Haiti's Eduard Duval Carrié, Trinidad's Leroy Clarke, Barbados' Ras Akyem and Ras Ishi and Jamaica's Albert Chong. Creating any exhibition that crosses language barriers and geographical boundaries is a major task especially when its works and artists are forced to navigate airline hubs such as Miami and San Juan, but the shows language of myth and spirituality is a forceful one that speaks more to the region's spiritual commonalities rather than its differences.

The human form features prominently in the art on show. The ritualized body whether stripped naked in Ras Akyem's drawings, bio-morphised in the paintings of Mendive, or costumed with bric-a-brac in the assemblages of Duval Carrie (shown here), demonstrates how as a result of slavery, the region's dispossessed peoples harnessed their inner resources to create intimate sites of worship that could speak to other worlds and realities. Whether inspired by Vodou, Revival, Rastafari or Santaria, the art works in Myths, Beliefs, Religions and Imagination in the Caribbean show how the enshrined body becomes the altar where our people display inner wealth and offerings, to praise and appease their gods.

Khepera Oluyia Hatsheptwa

Khepera Oluyia's work is a powerful mix of the collective and the personal. Through her painting she makes ambitious statements about the ideological systems that seduce, confine and manipulate us in the black diaspora. She challenges these belief systems and provides new models for our consideration and commitment.Jamaica's understanding of political blackness and skin colour are two of her most serious concerns. These are themes she has been exploring since her art school years, combining striking racial portraits with enigmatic titles. Back then, to reinforce her ideas about black strength and dominance, she started using mastic, a black tar substance more usually used for road and