Eying De Man - LeRoy

This work looks as if it came out of the 1950s

Revelation …Cogitative Dimensions is a retrospective of LeRoy's Clarke’s work from 1998. The upper floor of the National Museum of Trinidad and Tobago is allocated to the exhibition alone.

LeRoy Clarke's paintings are kinetic in nature. The artist uses a technique of stippling to assert an energy depicting African accents which gives each canvas its own independent meaning. From the embryo, his compositions expands into arches, angles and vectors. Step back a distance, and the camouflage of these complex idioms are exposed.

The show includes figurative pieces. These white outlines may represent the female, uprising, empowerment or LeRoy Clake himself as a patriarchal African head. In comparison, the works on paper are less provoking, and this is because they lack the kinetic energy found with his larger pieces. The paintings are flat and lines loosely confine the geometric shapes which are filled in with primary colours.

Mr. Clarke's work can be heavy-handed, his paintings can be lost in the muddiness of his palette or by the complexity in his narrative. Correct lighting can lift the intricacies from the work.

Revelation …Cogitative Dimensions runs until 11th December, 2005, the National Museum of Trinidad and Tobago. (opening remarks: An observation on LeRoy Clarke's paintings by the British painter, Peter Doig)