In the Flesh - Roberta Stoddart

The absence of pigmentation

The portrait of these two Negro albinos with three stray dogs is a painting by the Jamaican artist, Roberta Stoddart. Situated somewhere in the Caribbean plains, these studies are composed as if they were photographed while caught by the headlights of a vehicle. The painter has managed to render every detail from the folds in their clothing, to the type of brand shoe, and more pronounced are the pinkish flakes of pigment that reflect the colour of their skin.

As they stand before the viewer, they appear to be rather stark and caustic as if the subjects themselves were mechanically cutout and re-assembled over illuminated blades of grass from the Caroni plains. With this particular painting, as proficient and executed as it is, it lacks the most primal element in art, and that is of beauty or the absence of an emotion. Yet, it is in her work, in the calculation that reveals much more. The subject is of displacement or indifference dwelling on the divisions of ethics and race, black or white. And about loyalty and loneliness, as with the dogs, in seek of love and a home. With Ms.Stoddart, its her own discomfort with herself.

Roberta Stoddart resides in Trinidad and the invite card is privy to her upcoming exhibition of resent works at the National Museum in Port of Spain. Technically, she is one of the finest painters working from Trinidad and Tobago. In the Flesh is the platform to launch her book which catalogues her work and process over the years. With the aid of the photographer Abigail Hadeed, the book has been a task to compile. With slides to restore, and images to adjust, both artists want to ensure that the quality of the reproductions are at the highest standards. The catalogue is being printed internationally and it will reflect in its price when it is launched, 21st, November, 2007 at the National Museum of Trinidad and Tobago.

Invite Card: Stray mongrels with white Negroes, 50 x 46 ins. Oil on linen
In the Flesh, an exhibition of recent works - Roberta Stoddart. National Museum of Trinidad and Tobago, 22th November till 8th December, 2007.

Esta is a little diluted

The phrase, Esta is a little diluted is what can be deciphered from this wall scribbling of text written in blue crayon. The artists has accompanied the script with a drawing of a nude woman with a fairly wide hip. Her hands are clasped in front of her vagina as an indication of self-protection, and If she is homeless, she is exposed to a hard street-life. Only the artist knows of her troubles.

A large cannabis leaf is drawn next to her, and a figure of a crude face are both illustrated in with a light pencil. There is much more to this photograph which is located in heart of Port of Spain, and like the artist it is the reality in which he lives, the manner in which he tells his story and the proverbs he leaves behind.

A man asleep on a cardboard box in Port of Spain, Trinidad, West Indies superimposed with a Baptistery Mosaic which dates from about 500 AD.

Lion of Judah Revived

Anyone can be canonized once their name is repeated in mind and spirit


A wall painting of the Lion of Judah painted on an abandon wall opened to a littered lot of land, St. James, Trinidad, West Indies.

This portrait of the Lion of Judah is a sample of the Rastafarian culture that exists in Trinidad and Tobago. The motif of the lion dates back to tribe of Judah from the doctrines written in the Old Testament. The artist has captured the animal at rest somewhere on the African plains. It is in the subtle way he has painted the lion, in the layering of the wash and detail of the mane. The care, the pureness in the rendering and respect for what it symbolizes says more about him, rather than the subject.


A true follower of the Rastafarian faith through his music and words is the Jamaican singer, Bob Marley. The icon of the man is painted on a wall at Sea Lots, Trinidad, West Indies.
See the Lion of Judah as thebookmann header

Martins at School Street Carenage

A old bus as a Bar, Martins near School Street, Carenage

Since Eric Willians, sometime in the 1960s, Martins has been in operation. The owner, a quaint hostess describes the place as a tourist attraction but not as one of the more popular bars from Carenage. It is of cause a converted bus with red seats that run along the side. The large port windows are burglar-proof in the shape of hearts and wrought iron chairs covered with red upholstery are set along black tables. Christmas lights loop from post to post, and the interior of bus is decorated with an assortment of newspaper clippings and pinups of popular local celebrities.

Today, the bar has its regular customers just after a laborious day of construction. Three middle aged men sit and discuss about owning a piece of land, and about its importance. Money could done, but land remain for generations. They speak about education, and fondly of Eric Willians, the first Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago still believing he is alive somewhere.

Visitors to a Christian home T&T style

The Canon of Jesus of Nazareth: For those who have the extraordinary gift to heal are most likely frown upon with skepticism by others simplistic in their beliefs



This portrait of a Christ icon pinned up in a squatter house, Trinidad, West Indies shows that faith is most people can calm their precarious destiny.

To the off shore sea - Shouter Baptists

Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh, Like Soca Baptist, Like Soca Baptist, Like Soca Baptist

Just off the highway on Mucurapo road, Trinidad and Tobago. Just beyond the paved pitch and white barrier. To the patch of wet grass that slopes to the water's edge, next to the pools of sun baked rubbish that scatter the beach, a congregation of Shouter Baptists are in session. And with diligence and with the hope of a rebirth, they chant in verse, celebrating at a group of men being Baptized, in a sea not too clean.

Yet, it is the faith, the dedication in what one believes that sets things apart, and seeing only what is to be seen, the cleansing of the spirit. And with all faiths, with a God that is said to be compassionate and caring, the land, the soil, the sea, from the place called Trinidad and Tobago, she too needs a Baptism to purify her heart.

.......................................................................................................................................................................

Soca Baptist by Blue Boy

Listening to ah prayer meeting, baptist people preaching
With ah leader in front, have people singing
So I tell my padna, boy leh we get closer
Because I tell meh-self ah hearing soca
While it was something to be spiritual
To me it was more like bacchannal
For they dancing, some jumping out ah time
If you see baptist woman wine, singing

Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh
Like soca baptist
Like soca baptist
Like soca baptist
Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh
Like soca baptist
Like soca baptist
Oh Oh Oh

Just then ah power take me, cause me to act crazy
So they embrace my arm and start to spin me
But I created problems, I start to fight with them
Though the spirit in me, they have no mercy
When they see ah really giving trouble
The priest lay hands on his bible
For chapter two, page four, Psalm 166
Was ah soap and ah baptist mix, singing

Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh
Like soca baptist
Like soca baptist
Like soca baptist
Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh
Like soca baptist
Like soca baptist
Oh Oh Oh

While singing this Psalm, the preacher held my arm
Two bounce on my shoulder make me feel better
Then he said to me son, come forward and kneel down
But whilst approaching him, he stopped all singing
But then everything was going well
Until de man start to ring de bell
I starting bawling, but he didn't give a damn
So he make them sing baptist Psalm, singing

Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh
Like soca baptist
Like soca baptist
Like soca baptist
Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh
Like soca baptist
Like soca baptist
Oh Oh Oh

Saga Boy

Sa-ga boy or Sweetman

Definition: A Caribbean playboy: a man primarily interested in following fashion and seeking the attention of pleasure, namely women. Spotted at Ariapita avenue in Woodbrook, Port of Spain, Trinidad, West Indies.

Taximan to a Red woman: So is you who have to place so hot...

Shadow Beni - Eryngium foetidum

Shadow Beni, a Caribbean weed worth in culinary gold

This is the Shadow Beni plant which could be found in your backyard near concrete patches or in cool shaded areas in your garden. It is an ingredient that is used in for marinating fish and meat dishes. It has a flavour that is pungently strong. The herb should be used freshly to salivate your taste buds and to retain the plant's aroma.

My other Bread and Butter - Susan Dayal

Susie Dayal - Am I an Artist or am I an Artisan?
At the Horizons Gallery in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, the wire sculptor, Susan Dayal has her work on show. The gallery has made an adjustment for this exhibition as parts of the space are barred off. The wall partitions are painted in white, and Ms. Dayal's masks and busts surround the room under lighting which has been carefully orchestrated. The art community has come out to support Ms. Dayal's efforts fully, there is hardly any breathing space.

This has been a two year journey, Ms. Dayal says as she explains the process, and the theme which emerged from a strand of wire and developed into a cage of sorts. Each corset is constructed by measurements taken from her body, and the ribs are mashed to form a figure adorned with flowers and leaves. Anthuriums are her choice, aluminum, galvanize and copper are her materials.

Titled, Third Eye Flowering, the exhibition also shows a series of lotus flowers worked in copper. Parts of the copper are beaten to add an aesthetic to it, and the artist uses a spiral markings to fan out the membrane of the shape. From its core, facets and tubing are interweave to decorate each part. The show includes fourteen facial masks which take on the look of a Jester, and three large body corsets that combine an element of the traditional Fancy Sailor, a carnival character to Trinidad and Tobago. But this is by coincidence as the work just developed into those familiar forms.

For many years Susan Dayal has debated over the difference between art and craft. It is her craft that brings in her earnings. Nevertheless, both practices take the same amount of energy. Yet they can vary in detail, complexity and price. The question here is what determines it? This is the journey to which she must decide. Am I an Artist or am I an Artisan? The work at the show could be considered as decorative craft Art, but the large cage corsets seem to have an independent strength, a kind of offering of the shell of oneself to another.

There has been some discussion regarding the direction or stagnation that Ms. Dayal finds herself. The body torso has become her signature since it was produced in 1998 at the Lips, Sticks and Marks exhibition. Then, it had an edge to it. One recalls, the cage's labia was formed as jagged sheets of metal. She also had applied performance with her early dress piece using a crinoline shaped structure as a body suit. But after a decade, she is stuck with the same idea and seems unable to connect the dots which can produce work beyond the decorative element. Work more daring, more flexible, more polished or statuettes in nature.

Definition: Craft - Loose and generally crude in its construction. Art - Clean and seamless in its form and construction.

Third Eye Flowering
Susan Dayal At Horizons Gallery, Trinidad, West Indies continues till the 27th October, 2007

The futurist - Leonardo da Vinci

The futurist
What would Leonardo da Vinci think of the world today? Or did he ever envision the future in five hundred years? How would we describe, the photograph, the moving images of film, the era of television or the internet to him? What would he think of art today, and of the overwhelming resonance in his work centuries later?

Leonardo da Vinci believed in observation. He sorted out the habits of living things in nature and drew a conclusion.To fully understand he dissected every object to see its structure of which he could build upon it. And like the seed that resembles a helicopter, he envisioned the possibilities of flight by duplicating its form. He looked at a turtle's shell and saw the possibilities for protective armored cart. He saw that life gave all the answers to the mystery of man in his need to define himself above all things yet not flight.

In art, painting brought the pleasure to capturing a moment of perfect bliss, the sitter relayed in their temptation for immortality. As with the portrait of Lisa Gherardini, he manged to merge a part of himself with the sitter as if he painted her from memory. It was a portrait of her, through him. And this is where Art is, as it shall to capture the human spirit, and stop time for eternity.

In Light, shading and stillness, cloaked from the darkness into light an Artist must protect all things dear to him. if one sees and believes what is truth.

And so for the answer, what would he think? Man has not changed in his quest for more.

Mona Lisa
La Gioconda,
Leonardo da Vinci, circa 1503–1506
Oil on wood
77 × 53 cm, 30 × 21 in
Musée du Louvre, Paris

Note: The most beautiful part of this painting is the left hand

Landscapes in Abstaction - Mario Averbe Gonzalez

Like attracts Like
At the Pixel Print Gallery in Diego Martin, Trinidad and Tobago, the owner Gregory Scott has expanded his gallery which first began as a showcase for his digital prints. Pixel Prints has exhibited a number of artists since its conception in 2006. This month, a Columbian painter is on show.

Mario Averbe Gonzalez primarily is an abstract painter and his figurative motifs are defused from landscapes. At least four paintings incorporate a popular scene taken here from Trinidad and Tobago. One includes the bamboo patch in Chaguramas.

Pixel Print has a relatively small viewing space but Mr. Gonzalez's paintings are strong enough to separate themselves from each other. By this, he has trained himself to contain hues of colour in each piece. What his paintings lack are blacks. Nevertheless,they are clean, unintentional in their content and undiluted, yet they represent some sort of pleasing visual vista. Hence the painters Sarah Beckett or Isaiah James Boodhoo come to mine.

Mario Averbe Gonzalez at the Pixel Print galley in Diego Martin, Trinidad and Tobago. The exhibition runs until the 17th, October 2007. Lower photograph, Mario Averbe Gonzalez with Sarah Beckett, courtesy of Gregory Scott

Beyond the earth - Eid-ul-Fitr

Beyond the earth to the skies, and to a new moon

Eid is recorded to be celebrated in 624 by the Prophet Muhammad after the victory of the battle of Jang-e-Badar. Muslims are not only celebrating the end of their fasting, but thanking Allah for the his help and strength throughout the previous month in practice and self-control in fasting.

The festival begins at the first sighting of the new moon. The holiday, Eid-ul-Fitris in celebrated in Trinidad and Tobago and Muslins gather at their homes to give prayers and to have a festive full meal marking its end. Eid is also a time of forgiveness, and making amends to each other.

So look to the skies this evening a see the cycle of the history of man and the earth's satellite, planets and stars.

Photographs: A Mosque in Princess Town and graffiti of the Muslim faith drawn on a wall, Green Corner , Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.

The Male Gaze

Dat man looking wicked..But ah strongar, ah better dan he

A number of years ago, the mas band of Ian McKensie featured a small section of women who wore pasties and thongs in the band. This caused a huge uproar about ‘naked mas.’ Also at that time, one of the local newspapers ran an image of a woman standing a few feet from a policeman wearing pasties and hot pants. The article accompanying the picture discussed the fact that the woman was not breaking any laws dressed as she was. There has been a running joke that prostitutes are having a hard time plying their trade when so many women look that way these days.

Carnival manages to play with the fine line of the sexual and the explicit, yet it is always done with a sense of fun. If lines are indeed crossed, these lines are not made to harm, at least not in the context of playing mas. Sexual harassment, unwanted attention, these things may occur outside the confines of the fantasy of ‘being’ in costume in the band. It can be argued.

In Art on the other hand, the line between nudity and the sensual has not been explored to any level of debate about the subject in Trinidad and Tobago. Somehow everyone who attempts to make sexual imagery has been somehow crippled by it. Apart from those who paint the parlor nude and that is still predominantly a female form.

I have always wondered about that double standard, and I polled a few men about the subject. There was much debate about the female gaze looking at the male as nude. The conversation was quite enlightening, as it went beyond the obvious statement that you hear all the time, the fact that men do not want to look at other men.

Here is what I discovered, men looking upon men make a man aware of himself and his shortcomings or difference. There is an inability to look away. A desire to move past all of that nakedness that stares you down. There is a feeling of anxiety to look upon another man, particularly if that man is beautiful in the classical Greek sense.The thought of homosexuality draws too close.

However there is also the opportunity to desire to look the way the male figure is portrayed. It can be something to attain in oneself. Looking upon complete nakedness is another matter. If the penis is neutral, the form is not a challenge, but an aroused man brings up a different set of thoughts. A sizing up occurs. One that is either dismissed or ridiculed, after all, it is a vulnerable moment and the man feels exposed by the image.

This was all very interesting. Men have been exposing women for centuries and women have allowed it. Yet male nudity is still so rare, unless you are a homosexual man, and even so, a lot of that nudity is something that you have to surf for.This begs another question, what is it about straight women and gay porn?

I conclude that the male form is extremely sexy, and so unusual that women go for gay porn because it is a lot of man to look at. I suppose that is also why men love lesbian porn. Somehow nakedness and sex never gets old. It attracts us because it is still private despite all of the opportunities that one can take to see it. - Adele

The inner Womb of Neurosis

Everyone suffers in this world, everyone
In contemporary Art, works produced by female artists are often based on internal views mostly how they see themselves. One of the relevant artist of the twentieth century was the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, she depicted her physical and inner anguish through her art. The question is whose their audience? The articles below describe such debate from two polarizing views.

................................................................................................................

We all know the book Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. The author concludes that men and women think differently. A male artist put the question to me recently, do female artists have a greater tendency to include their lives in their work? This question has the makings of a real man /woman argument. But I saw it as quite provocative.

Do women artists do that?

From Judy Chicago and KiKi Smith to Tracy Emin and Vanessa Beecroft. I was trying to throw a few caribbean female artists names in there for good measure, but found that I just could not do so at the moment. That aside, I answered my friend as follows:

I believe that feminism has made the use of self by women in art a necessary tool for discovery and revelation. It may not be a predominantly female process, however women do seem to look inward more readily than men. We could say that it has to do with being female, having a womb and the whole nine. Women can be seen to be more introspective and sensitive. Women certainly have the habit of wanting to explain things, an acute attention to detail and a desire to fix emotional issues. That said, it is likely that the female artist finds points of departure at which personal comfort zones are breached, and in Art, it starts with an awareness of the self. At any rate, this makes the work a starting point. Just as the other post discussed race, sex is also one of the recipes for the process, and with it may come an inkling from time to time for women to embrace who and what she believes herself to be.

................................................................................................................

Yes, the sexuality and self discovery, and man and woman and wombs and testicles! But that seems to me to be the bottom of the barrel, or more like the scum rising to the top or the airing of dirty linen (do I have to mention the Emin word?).

Which is not to say art should NOT be about that, but surely it should and often in fact is more - more generous, more magnanimous, more expansive, fulfilling its full potential, concerned with bigger things, and dear I say elevation us (that terrible old fashioned word!) to something more sublime than cum-stained sheets and the contemplation of ones own cunt or cock.

Really, who cares how often you masturbate or wipe your ass when there's the moment of standing before a Turner or Picasso (even at his most brutal) that is sublime and lifts you out of yourself, that doesn't wallow in self pity or whatever neurosis inspires so much of this stuff.

For me, the horrible lack of beauty in all this stuff. I know - that old-fashioned age-old question, what is beauty and all that! But I know that in my own work- now! - I seek it! And it is for me what fleshes out and fills the best work to bursting and is what makes a piece of art ART, in the truest and most sublime sense of its fulfilling ALL of its potentials and possibilities. Why, often, it does what religion can never do and totally replaces it and makes it puny in the way it takes us out of ourselves and shows us the great things that life can be and often is. - Adele

Shibboleth at the Tate Modern

Mind the gap from falling into the World of Contemporary Art's trap

At the Tate Modern, a contemporary Art gallery in London England, the work of Colombian, Doris Salcedo is on display. The artist works with the formal structure of the everyday object. For instance she uses a cupboard, groups of chairs or table as an installation. They are minimalist at best, but lack an sense of interaction. At the Tate Modern, she has expanded her scope with an installation grand in size and social interaction.

It is a large concrete walkway that expands over 167 metres on the lower floor of the gallery. A work which all people encounter on everyday, yet the Tate Modern has managed to confined the experience by simply confining it in an enclosed space. Ms. Salcedo has cast a slap of concrete where a small crack runs down the centre of the piece and widens at one end.

Art goers may have the opportunity to, as with pedestrians, to walk along the sides or even investigate the flakes of concrete which separates the piece but at a distance since the opening seems large enough to spill in. This work is visually poetic, as it manages to stop people in the daily rush, and to pause where beauty can lie. It is this distinction that carries meaning to all things in a world that has become over saturated with superficial things. Simplicity and gesture can evoke an emotion. But are you loony enough to give a crack on the street the same sort of attention as in the gallery?

Pubic controversy with Art is not new to the Tate Modern, the director Nicholas Serota must be pleased over the debate regarding the value of piece to which the gallery must defend - Artwise. This is the sweet catch that aligns itself with the increase of visitors to the Gallery and people are just curious to see what the fuss is about. Hoping to be told what art should mean, rather than seeing right through it.

Readymade art, a potter's painting, no puns on art please

The work like, Ms. Salcedo's Shibboleth exists everywhere, you just have to train yourself to see and contain it. Then you will begin to appreciate the small details in pavement's cracks, the older lady sipping coffee at the tavern or the yellow zig zag markings at the crosswalk. Once this happens, you come to realize that art was always in front of you. In time, you will appreciate the visual exhibitions of London, all contained under her grey skies, plus the few entry fee Pounds saved from not going to Art shows that serve the same.

Top: A detail of the concrete crack along the pathway. Centre: leaves naturally gathered on a porch. Below: objects as Art, a chair, the Caribbean throne, Trinidad and Tobago.

Smokey and Bunty is Burning

Only those who are true to themselves in oddity or in spectacle shall be remembered

Wit girl wit boy within my big truck and I looking for a man who could really wok it, come le we jam it, come le we rock it....A few need permission to lick down in yuh bam bam and fire wit protection.......
everybody wok it, wok it wok it.....

For those of you who are familiar with the film Paris is Burning, it dealt with the subject of Voguing out of the New York dance scene in the 1990s. The dance is characterized by the formation of lines, symmetry and should be executed gracefully with a fluid-like action.

But here on the streets of St. James, Trinidad and Tobago, in the front entrance of Smoky and Bunty, two Soca voguers are at it in competition. Prancing, drinking, back wining, flipping and arguing to a crowd quite subdued, yet entertained enough to stay for a while.

So relax, watch and learn the dance moves on youtube and say to yourself, Dat eh hard, and then asked yourself, can a man wine better than a woman?
.................................................................................................................

With elections in the air and a sense of uncertainty reaching a fever pitch, it was nice to see some people having a good time on a Saturday nignt. It reminded me that there is much more to life than worry. It is so easy to get caught up in negative feelings and let it overwhelm you. When this happens you only want to stay indoors and let the worry feed on your person.

This short film reminds us what Trinidad is all about. Of cause there are those who say that 'alyuh does play de fool all de time and doh take tings seriously!" may be so, but sometimes we must take back our old values. In this instance, a fun evening of dance, music, good food and drink. For a moment we forget the bomb scares and the murder toll. We are not placing our heads in the proverbial sand and saying that we do not know what scares us. Far from it. instead we are saying, take back what we love because really, if things were better' this is what we would want to do with our time anyway. Have a bit of fun. - Adele

Madness, Mathematics and Art

Take a picture of my heart...take a picture of it..

Ariapita avenue in Woodbrook, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago is the hot spot for nightlife entertainment. There are many gambling facilities consisting of private casinos, and a few bars littered along the street. This is Saturday night, and the scene is less tepid from the energetic crowds the night before. But something unusual marks the pavement.

Perfectly aligned on top of the iron grill, a sheet of newspaper is positioned between three objects. A slice of bread, the skin of a quartered watermelon and a cap used as a holder to place a scrub upright. This is a offering to the female images are clearly seen in print.

The artist behind this installation continued his process by laying the spreads of the newsprint in a sequential order on the concrete. Further apart, he constructed a bridge using discarded slices of melon in twelve equal parts. They are arranged in a pattern as if it to write a mathematical code. And in the frenzy of being photographed, he stalled at first, then jumped to his feet and pounded his chest with his palm and said; Take a picture of my heart...take a picture of it..

The artist is a young man who is suffering from a form of mental illness, one of the many homeless people loss in Port of Spain, and his psychological behaviour shifted from coherent moods to unpredictable schizophrenia.

Then you must question, in his madness, why art? why mathematics? These are the clues of our civilization, the order, the sequence, and the meaning. See him as thebookmann header

Art Therapy - Pat Bishop

In Trinidad and Tobago, Pat Bishop is known as an artist who treasures the national musical instrument, the Steelpan and she also conducts the Lydian singers, a local ensemble of classical singers. Then, she should understand the structure, balance, tonal timbre and most of all the spirit that lifts as you listen to a score. But why are these elements less visible in her art?

At the Softbox gallery in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago Ms. Bishop's exhibition is at its tail end, the entrance door is shut and the owner of the gallery comes to investigate. And like a guard to the Queen's Royal jewels, his persistence is jolting. "No one is allowed to see the work". What could the intrigue be?

Ms. Bishop has spent some time choreographing an exhibition full with musical intrigue. The pieces observed from her catalogue shows her work in the layering of forms matted with soft pastel tones to give a literal three-dimensional meaning. Therefore, the circular abstraction of coloured rings represents a steelpan, The painted keys of the piano is just that, a piano and so forth. In one of her abstracts, she adds a small violin figurine.

For those who went to the show, the phrase not impressed kepts coming up. There was also the debate over her use of authentic goldleaf to decorate some of the pieces. This does not mean that the frames were gilded, just a few fragments of the leaf were just placed on the canvas without finesse.

There are many admirers of Ms. Bishop's sculptural paintings, and she should be pleased that the exhibition was a success, it was an understanding that practically all the work was sold. Yet, there is not much to read from them but rather an exercise in Art Therapy with small blocks tacked together and covered with canvas and paint.

Pat Bishop's Catalogue; I belong to the house of music. It should be noted that the cover of her calalogue is of a closed door.

The Tobago Gaze

We live, we die, what's between is just a kaleidescope of experiences.

Tobago, often feels neglected from the overbearing attitudes and ownership from Trinidad. It has an unique identity particularly with its people, a purer African stock less tainted by those here in Trinidad. In their spoken idiom, sometimes you think they are directly from Africa, the accent is much different from a well spoken Trinidadian.

Yet, Tobago has had a turbulent past, fought over by many Europeans and has been part of Trinidad since 1888 under a single Crown Colony. But today a few European artists have considered it their second home and the work produced from the island shows the uniqueness of its native habitat.

At the Annex at the National Museum of Trinidad and Tobago, the Dutch painter Han Vilé expresses his male gaze on the women of Tobago in thirty small paintings.

In art terms, the objectionification of any culture by another carries a heavy hand from the standpoint of who can or can't form a proper representation of the subject.

Mr.Vilé depicts a portrait of the contemporary youthful exotic Tobago Negro in vignettes he has observed. They are highly charged as he searches to outline the female form in places dark and mysterious. These paintings are quirky and folklike with a rich gamut of primary colours, and in setting we West Indies most often take for granted.

Although, in retrospect they border on the lines of graphic illustrations and are more suited for a tourist travel guide. Men may just flock over just to experience these exotic beings. So be it as it may, step back from the illusion of what you think it should be, and chuckle, laugh and admire these women from Tobago in all of their whimsical physique and sexually voluptuousness.

Light in Art - Giovanni Battista Moroni

Beauty is in the eye of beauty

The work you see before you is regarded as a Masterpiece in Western Art. This is not the loose term Trinidadians generally like to bestow onto a few of their local artists, international or otherwise, but It means a work indescribable in its execution and beauty.

This is a work by Giovanni Battista Moroni painted from the Mannerist period between 1565-70. The sitter is an arduous tailor at his working table, captured at the moment he is preparing to cut a piece of cloth with a pair of shears.

Standing behind a wooden table, he has positioned himself slightly forward and weighted. He holds the black fabric between his stocky thumb and forefingers, and with his other hand, the shears are clasped between his knuckle.

The doublet is worn close to his body, and the linen jacket reveals the droop of his chest and stomach as the garment clings to him. The fabric has embroidered lines that run towards his ruff and the folds give a sense of the weave and weight of the cloth. His burgundy coloured hose bellows beneath a thin leather belt and the hood of his codpiece is visible through the pleats of fabric. Every fine hair is noticeable from the sides of his brow and his pupils are dilated, yet strained from the incandescent candle light.

So what makes this particular painting so stunning? Not only is the young man seductively inviting, but he is looking directly at the spectator with a mannerism and posed that is chromatically charming. Like great works of art, the subject can mesmerize you where you literally stand and gaze over the painting. At every detail, at every nuance, what draws this attention? It captures the spirit in man. With Giovanni Battista Moroni's painting of the unknown man, his gaze speaks of a love, the connection between himself and the artist.

Moroni's realistic depictions puts him as one of the finest portraitists of the sixteenth century. The realistic tone of the subject's persona is rendered by the painter who can convey the nuances of their facial and physical appearance, as with this slightly wary eyed subject. Yet it is his understanding of the presence of light on a subject which can evoke layers of luminance.

..........................................................................................................................................................................

The Mannerists

Mannerism developed after The Renaissance period. One could be sceptical and say that it was a crisis period in Art. After all, The Renaissance spawned Donatello,Michelangelo, Raphael and Da Vinci. Who and what sort of work could stand in its wake? As we now know, Art never dies, it continues to express itself in exciting ways. theBookmann talks about the sensitivity of line and colour as well as the opportunity to gaze on the young man cutting cloth over and over again.

I concur that this is one of the wonderful things about Art. Art certainly can draw you in and make you emotional in ways that you are unprepared for. In this particular work, this has been made apparant. What I wondered as I looked at it, was the present day argument for photorealism. On the one hand, people enjoy and crave it and on the other, people say that you could easily take a picture instead.

This Mannerist painting shows us that although the image is extremely realistic, the painter manages to capture much more than reality. The painter captures a mood as well as a moment in time, now a history, lost to the past, yet very relevant to the future because great work never spoils. - Adele

Giovanni Battista Moroni - Tailor
c 1565-70
Oil on canvas
99.5 x 77 cm.

Nationale Plakat kunst

Only fools repeat fools

"I, having been elected a Member of Parliament do swear by ... (solemnly affirm) that I will bear true faith and allegiance to Trinidad and Tobago, I will uphold the Constitution and the law, and will conscientiously and impartially discharge the responsibilities to the people of Trinidad and Tobago upon which I am about to enter."

The stencil of the man with his hand raised is the Prime Minster of Trinidad and Tobago. Trinidad and Tobago, a Democratic and Independent state will send its citizens to vote in general elections, November, 2007.

The graffiti artist responsible for this work has included the swastika from Sanskrit which is an equilateral cross with its arms that form at right angle. The symbol was part of the Flag of the National Socialist German Workers Party from 1920-1945. Top; a stenciled image of a politician on a wall in Port of Spain, Trinidad. Below; Detail of the work. This and other types of graffiti are popping up around Port of Spain in the efforts to encourage people to think before electing just for electing sake.


All Rights Reserved 2007, Wonder of the World, thebookmann