Thursday
Jan242008
Gallery of Caribbean Art, Speightstown, Barbados
Thursday, January 24, 2008 at 01:10PM Artist' Statement
In Defense of the Beautiful
Contemporary Art is moved through a world-wide schedule of art fairs and biennales highly constructed by an establishment that designates its stars, who are rewarded by high price tags on works of questionable expression. These products may or may not stand the test of time when price and value would come into equilibrium.
The artists of the English-speaking Caribbean islands are largely ignored in the rarefied air of this art activity. Few of these artists have been able to step on to the stage of international recognition, to have their works seen or sold at these events. There are a host of reasons for this, but partially responsible is the very strong connection to and representation of the natural environment.
When a curator from North America or Europe looks at a landscape depicting the beauty of our islands, usually the work is dismissed as “kitsch” or art made as a souvenir for quick tourist sales. True, there is much that is sold that is not really art, but repetitive, stylized representation of easily identifiable icons—the palm trees, market ladies or beach scenes. However, for contemporary Caribbean artists to divorce themselves from the natural environment in favour of northern urban subjects, palettes and light is bowing to an establishment that resembles the colonial imperialism of our not too distant past.
High colour and contrast saturate our vision every moment that we look outside. While we live in relative peace, our human issues, our politics, our hopes and aspirations also are strong in contrast and dimension. The “identity search” that purportedly identifies Caribbean contemporary artist is perhaps an imposed ideology.
We know who we are. We are a rich island civilization framed by a synthesis of many peoples and cultures. We are those who have to dig deeply into our personal reserve of inner resources to deal with living in a part of the world where making art isn’t easy or convenient. Creativity springs from this inconvenience. We are not recognized within our own cultural milieu as being important contributors, yet we document our diverse and dynamic society within its achingly beautiful natural environment. And we are a people who faithfully rebuild after that same beauty turns on us in a violent hurricane or earthquake and destroys the work of a lifetime.
So when a Caribbean collector purchases a work of art from “home” he is not just buying something to decorate his walls. He is proclaiming with his dollars that this art work has great value. He is defying the deeply entrenched notion that whatever comes from “away” is intrinsically better than what is produced locally. He is casting his vote of confidence to the further building of this West Indian civilization that in terms of human development is a shining example to the rest of the world.
