Drawings - Finished and Unfinished

But is Carnival, it just have to stand up for two days, trow it after


The Bottom Line Drawing has taken a back seat to landscapes and the like, so I was looking forward to seeing the show, The Bottom Line. An exhibition of drawings by thirteen artists from Jackie Hinkson and Eddy Bowen to Dean Arlin and Akazuru. Walking into the Cotton Tree Foundation I was very willing to reserve my judgement in favour of exploring the works on show, but yet again, I was disappointed by the curation. I asked aloud, what is the purpose of a show of drawings? Framed works were interspersed between rough sketches. Some works were very skilled against others that were mere doodles! I have to confess that I wanted to throw up my hands is disgust because I could just hear people saying to me, why do you always have nothing good to say! Little do they know that I want to be able to have something good to say. I really do. But the problems are always so obvious, so glaring, that I cannot believe that I am the only person seeing them.


I am extremely happy to see so many shows on at the same time. I am very happy to see very different shows, focusing on very different things. I am not happy to see the opportunity to show the best wittled down by sloppy decision making and not asking the right questions of the showing. I am also beginning to wonder about artists themselves, how can you allow your work to be represented so badly. LeRoy Clarke has some gorgeous drawings, Jackie Hinkson’s drawings are larger than life joys to behold, so imagine my shock to see small sketches by Pat Bishop framed in soiled frames! A person who prides herself on presentation, and then there was Akazuru's installation placed in the centre of the space. Does this mean that drawing can be viewed this way? What is going on?

Can someone place explain this to the public at large! A show like this needed to explore or expose a variety of standards of what drawing is and means to us at this time. Perhaps showing sketchbooks, works in progress and finished studies. At this time, the show looks like a hodge-podge of things with no cohesive centre. - Adele -Temperature – cool Work - cool Top image : Kimme, Bottom: LeRoy Clarke at the Cotton Tree Foundation, Port of Spain, Trinidad.