Haile Selassie I in St. James

Copyright © 2009 Richard Bolai

This wall painting was a pleasant surprise located in an abandon lot in St. James, Trinidad and Tobago. It shows the quantity of materials used in the artist's desire to depict Haile Selassie centered between bands of colour which represents the figure known as the Rastafari Messiah. Plenty paint boy


A detail of the work that shows great care, St. James Trinidad, West Indies

Shivaji and Ganesha playing All Fours

The ministry of works All Fours playing house, Crystal Stream, Diego Martin

The plywood shed you see is here is a notorious spot for liming. The men who work? or are assigned to this district are either drinking, drunk or swinging on a hammock tied between a large tree and the dwelling. But on this Sunday morning as parishioners were pelting out with their spanking new sport utility vehicles from a RC Church compound just opposite the newly fenced grounds. An artist showed his faith as a wall painter while his adviser reclined to his right smoking a cigarette and chatting on his mobile phone.

An all Fours card player painting a religious mural, Diego Martin Trinidad, West Indies

A tribute to Shivaji and Ganesha painted on the side of this dwelling. One can speculate that this is for good luck, particularly at night when the place is occupied by card players. Cussing, cackling, women and laughter will resume regardless of the sacredness of the Hindu deities just freshly painted on the outer part of the partition.

Is Brooklyn ah study Hairdressing

A wall painting of a barber shop, Backstreet at Barataria, Trinidad courtesy of P.D.

This is an eye catcher located off Barataria, Trinidad. The owner of the Barber shop wants you to know that he had his Hairdressing training in a Big City, namely Brooklyn, New York. There, he realized that how elegant, confident and refine you look can take you places such as to this wall. The artist responsible for this motto has executed the barber as a Saga Boy who is decked out in a red polyester suit complemented with black brogue shoes. He posture shows his seductiveness and availability to both sexes to lure them into his shop. Men want to look like him, and woman just want to be with him. His self-assurance is represented by his hand tug at his waist. His personal haircut should have a clean part to finish his look.

His companion, and love of his profession is a seven foot Claes Oldenburg barbering shears. Both are standing in front of a varnish stone wall that shows a specular view of new grand city with its high risers and sky walks, Port of Spain.
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Brooklyn, New York is one of many places in the world of immigration that has deep historical meaning for people of African descent. It represents hope and for many, financial success. The bowels of New York open out every year and spit their inhabitants holding green cards and visa’s back to their islands for carnivals. Only to ingest them again.

The painting on this backstreet barber shop holds in mind all of the meaning associated with such promise. The image is reminiscent of the old fashioned photographs taken during the Harlem Renaissance and our own distant past of the 1950’s, where the elegant black population dressed for success, as opposed to excess today.

Our painter tells us that self assurance is all in a good shave and mark of the head. It causes men to admire and women to perspire with desire. The background of nondescript buildings hark to a metropolis of unknown origin, the foreground with the tree remind you of Central Park, Manhattan or anywhere that urban meets suburban. He is standing in a red,velvet suit with a scissors that flanks him in size, an Andy Warhol or Claes Oldenburg prop that makes clear that the message is all about style,class and polish. - Adele

Insurrection at Toco

A part of Toco's history painted on three water tanks, Trinidad, West Indies, 1997

This mural depicts the insurrection by the Caribs from the Spanish conquerors during the Spanish mission.The artist has reconstructed the systemic way in which these people were eradicated governed by the propagating of the Christian faith under the Spanish crown. The two murals are painted on two of three water tanks at Toco, Trinidad. It is a part of Toco's history as in the insurrection, men, women and children threw themselves over the cliff or were otherwise killed by the conquerors.

Galera Point, Toco where both the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean meet. It is the spot where many indigenous Indians committed genocide in order not to be captured by the invaders.

Ah bounce yuh wall

A decorative wall painting in a mechanic shop, Trinidad, West Indies

This creative wall painting says it all about speed, perspective and shadow. The typography, "We Install All Parts" is due to the driver picking up a skid and careening through the blue brick wall. Not only does the artist show his skill for the visual three-dimension look, but he also gives the shadow underneath the car a dimension to ponder as he struggles with where it should fall. Painters such as Leonardo da Vinci would be pleased that the lessons in the study of shadow and perspective were overlooked, thus entering a new field of observation called; What the hell is it?.
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PERSPECTIVE by Leonardo da Vinci

1. The vertical plane is a perpendicular line, imagined as in front of the central point where the apex of the pyramids converge. And this plane bears the same relation to this point as a plane of glass would, through which you might see the various objects and draw them on it. The different converging pyramids produced by the objects, will show, on the plane, the various sizes and remoteness of the objects causing them.

2. All those horizontal planes of which the extremes are met by perpendicular lines forming right angles, if they are of equal width the more they rise to the level of eye the less this is seen, and the more the eye is above them the more will their real width be seen.

3. The farther a spherical body is from the eye the more you will see of it. A simple and natural method; showing how objects appear to the eye without any other medium.

4. The object that is nearest to the eye always seems larger than another of the same size at greater distance.

5. How every large mass sends forth its images, which may diminish through infinity. The images of any large mass being infinitely divisible may be infinitely diminished.

6. Objects of equal size, situated in various places, will be seen by different pyramids which will each be smaller in proportion as the object is farther off.

7. Perspective, in dealing with distances, makes use of two opposite pyramids, one of which has its apex in the eye and the base as distant as the horizon. The other has the base towards the eye and the apex on the horizon. Now, the first includes the [visible] universe, embracing all the mass of the objects that lie in front of the eye; as it might be a vast landscape seen through a very small opening; for the more remote the objects are from the eye, the greater number can be seen through the opening, and thus the pyramid is constructed with the base on the horizon and the apex in the eye, as has been said. The second pyramid is extended to a spot which is smaller in proportion as it is farther from the eye; and this second perspective [pyramid] results from the first.

8. Simple perspective is that which is constructed by art on a vertical plane which is equally distant from the eye in every part. Complex perspective is that which is constructed on a ground-plan in which none of the parts are equally distant from the eye.

10. No surface can be seen exactly as it is, if the eye that sees it is not equally remote from all its edges. When an object opposite the eye is brought too close to it, its edges must become too confused to be distinguished; as it happens with objects close to a light, which cast a large and indistinct shadow, so is it with an eye which estimates objects opposite to it.

11. In all cases of linear perspective, the eye acts in the same way as the light. And the reason is that the eye has one leading line (of vision) which dilates with distance and embraces with true discernment large objects at a distance as well as small ones that are close. But since the eye sends out a multitude of lines which surround this chief central one and since these which are farthest from the centre in this cone of lines are less able to discern with accuracy, it follows that an object brought close to the eye is not at a due distance, but is too near for the central line to be able to discern the outlines of the object. So the edges fall within the lines of weaker discerning power, and these are to the function of the eye like dogs in the chase which can put up the game but cannot take it. Thus these cannot take in the objects, but induce the central line of sight to turn upon them, when they have put them up. Hence the objects which are seen with these lines of sight have confused outlines. The relative size of objects with regard to their distance from the eye.

12. Small objects close at hand and large ones at a distance, being seen within equal angles, will appear of the same size. There is no object so large but that at a great distance from the
eye it does not appear smaller than a smaller object near.

13. Among objects of equal size that which is most remote from the eye will look the smallest.

14. Why an object is less distinct when brought near to the eye, and why with spectacles, or without the naked eye sees badly either close or far off [as the case may be].

15. Among objects of equal size, that which is most remote from the eye will look the smallest.

16. No second object can be so much lower than the first as that the eye will not see it higher than the first, if the eye is above the second.

17. And this second object will never be so much higher than the first as that the eye, being below them, will not see the second as lower than the first.

18. If the eye sees a second square through the centre of a smaller one, that is nearer, the second, larger square will appear to be surrounded by the smaller one.

19. Objects that are farther off can never be so large but that those in front, though smaller, will conceal or surround them.

20. This proposition can be proved by experiment. For if you look through a small hole there is nothing so large that it cannot be seen through it and the object so seen appears surrounded and enclosed by the outline of the sides of the hole. And if you stop it up, this small stopping will conceal the view of the largest object.

21. Linear Perspective deals with the action of the lines of sight, in proving by measurement how much smaller is a second object than the first, and how much the third is smaller than the second; and so on by degrees to the end of things visible. I find by experience that if a second object is as far beyond the first as the first is from the eye, although they are of the same size, the second will seem half the size of the first and if the third object is of the same size as the 2nd, and the 3rd is as far beyond the second as the 2nd from the first, it will appear of half the size of the second; and so on by degrees, at equal distances, the next farthest will be half the size of the former object. So long as the space does not exceed the length of 20 braccia. But, beyond 20 braccia figures of equal size will lose 2/4 and at 40 braccia they will lose 9/10, and 19/20 at 60 braccia, and so on diminishing by degrees. This is if the picture plane is distant from you twice your own height. If it is only as far off as your own height, there will be a great difference between the first braccia and the second.

22. A second object as far distant from the first as the first is from the eye will appear half the size of the first, though they be of the same size really.

23. If you place the vertical plane at one braccio from the eye, the first object, being at a distance of 4 braccia from your eye will diminish to 3/4 of its height at that plane; and if it is 8 braccia from the eye, to 7/8; and if it is 16 braccia off, it will diminish to 15/16 of its height and so on by degrees, as the space doubles the diminution will double.

24. Begin from the line _m f_ with the eye below; then go up and do the same with the line _n f_, then with the eye above and close to the 2 gauges on the ground look at _m n_; then as _c m_ is to _m n_ so will _n m_ be to _n s_. If _a n_ goes 3 times into _f b, m p_ will do the same into _p g_. Then go backwards so far as that _c d_ goes twice into _a n_ and _pg_ will be equal to _g h_. And _m p_ will go into _h p_ as often as_d c_ into _o p_.

Although the objects seen by the eye do, in fact, touch each other as they recede, I will nevertheless found my rule on spaces of 20 braccia each; as a musician does with notes, which, though they can be carried on one into the next, he divides into degrees from note to note calling them 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th; and has affixed a name to each degree in raising or lowering the voice. Let _f_ be the level and distance of the eye; and _a_ the vertical plane, as high as a man; let _e_ be a man, then I say that on the plane this will be the distance from the plane to the 2nd man.

The differences in the diminution of objects of equal size in consequence of their various remoteness from the eye will bear among themselves the same proportions as those of the spaces between the eye and the different objects.

25. Find out how much a man diminishes at a certain distance and what its length is; and then at twice that distance and at 3 times, and so make your general rule.

26. The eye cannot judge where an object high up ought to descend.

27. If two similar and equal objects are placed one beyond the other at a given distance the difference in their size will appear greater in proportion as they are nearer to the eye that sees them. And conversely there will seem to be less difference in their size in proportion as they are remote from the eve.

28. This is proved by the proportions of their distances among themselves; for, if the first of these two objects were as far from the eye, as the 2nd from the first this would be called the second proportion: since, if the first is at 1 braccia from the eye and the 2nd at two braccia, two being twice as much as one, the first object will look twice as large as the second. But if you place the first at a hundred braccia from you and the second at a hundred and one, you will find that the first is only so much larger than the second as 100 is less than 101; and the converse is equally true. And again, the same thing is proved by the 4th of this book which shows that among objects that are equal, there is the same proportion in the diminution of the size as in the increase in the distance from the eye of the spectator.

29. The practice of perspective may be divided into ... parts. The space for the number is left blank in the of which the first treats of objects seen by the eye at any distance; and it shows all these objects just as the eye sees them diminished, without obliging a man to stand in one place rather than another so long as the plane does not produce a second foreshortening.

30. But the second practice is a combination of perspective derived partly from art and partly from nature and the work done by its rules is in every portion of it, influenced by natural perspective and artificial perspective. By natural perspective I mean that the plane on which this perspective is represented is a flat surface, and this plane, although it is parallel both in length and height, is forced to diminish in its remoter parts more than in its nearer ones. And this is proved by the first of what has been said above, and its diminution is natural. But artificial perspective, that is that which is devised by art, does the contrary; for objects equal in size increase on the plane where it is foreshortened in proportion as the eye is more natural and nearer to the plane, and as the part of the plane on which it is figured is farther from the eye.

31. And let this plane be _d e_ on which are seen 3 equal circles which are beyond this plane _d e_, that is the circles _a b c_. Now you see that the eye _h_ sees on the vertical plane the sections of the images, largest of those that are farthest and smallest of the nearest.

32. Natural perspective acts in a contrary way; for, at greater distances the object seen appears smaller, and at a smaller distance the object appears larger. But this said invention requires the spectator to stand with his eye at a small hole and then, at that small hole, it will be very plain. But since many (men's) eyes endeavour at the same time to see one and the same picture produced by this artifice only one can see clearly the effect of this perspective and all the others will see confusion. It is well therefore to avoid such complex perspective and hold to simple perspective which does not regard planes as foreshortened, but as much as possible in their proper form. This simple perspective, in which the plane intersects the pyramids by which the images are conveyed to the eye at an equal distance from the eye is our constant experience, from the curved form of the pupil of the eye on which the pyramids are intersected at an equal distance from the visual virtue.

33. This diagram distinguishes natural from artificial perspective. But before proceeding any farther I will define what is natural and what is artificial perspective. Natural perspective says that the more remote of a series of objects of equal size will look the smaller, and conversely, the nearer will look the larger and the apparent size will diminish in proportion to the distance. But in artificial perspective when objects of unequal size are placed at various distances, the smallest is nearer to the eye than the largest and the greatest distance looks as though it were the least of all; and the cause of this is the plane on which the objects are represented; and which is at unequal distances from the eye throughout its length. And this diminution of the plane is natural, but the perspective shown upon it is artificial since it nowhere agrees with the true diminution of the said plane. Whence it follows, that when the eye is somewhat removed from the [station point of the] perspective that it has been gazing at, all the objects represented look monstrous, and this does not occur in natural perspective, which has been defined above. Let us say then, that the square _a b c d_ figured above is foreshortened being seen by the eye situated in the centre of the side which is in front. But a mixture of artificial and natural perspective will be seen in this tetragon called _el main_ that is to say _e f g h_ which must appear to the eye of the spectator to be equal to _a b c d_ so long as the eye remains in its first position between _c_ and _d_. And this will be seen to have a good effect, because the natural perspective of the plane will conceal the defects which would [otherwise] seem monstrous.

Mission not Impossible

From an overheard conversation: She belly high, dat sweet to fock

A wall painting entitled, Mission Impossible, Trinidad, West Indies

In a quaint part of Princess Town, Trinidad, West Indies, in one of the local bars called Obsession, a wall painting brings some humour to patrons who may be a bit intoxicated to even care. It is an airbrush painting of a couple who have sex on their mind but also have physical compilations to consummate the act. . The artist has illustrated a pregnant women pleading to her partner for some pleasurable coition. At the looks of it, he is competing with her by the tremendous amount of weight in fat folds which he carries over his belly. But don’t mind this, men generally find innovative means to overcome the predicament. Sooner or later she cyett getting lick up and he totee getting suck.

Cyett: Vagina
Totee: Penis

Is four women holding up meh car ?

This may be lifted from an automotive part ad promoting car shocks. Here is another version which has already been written about. Yet it is the delight which the artist took to illustrate the nude pinkish women as part of the car suspension.

In a mechanic shop on the old southern main road, a replica of a pin up, Trinidad, West Indies.

Ofili's Maracas

Here is an fine example how an artist's rendering of a wall painting might be mistaken for a Chris Ofili work or better yet. Aptly timed to represent the percussion instrument because Its Parang in Trinidad.

On a wall, the artist has blended the national colours of red, black and white and drawn what appears to be an Asian warrior in silhouette ready for combat. The small airbrushed white dots on either maracas may be the light reflecting off the surface of the calabash. The Maracas is known as the shac-shac in Trinidad and Tobago.

A wall painting of a shac-shac, Port of Spain, Trinidad, West Indies

A draftsman's dream

Where to plant de apple tree Mr. Prime Minster?

The artist behind this masterpiece has taken his cue from Frank O. Gehry to match his design of the Guggenheim museum in Spain. This version is the schematic painting of a house to be built or which already has on the streets of Port of Spain.

The draftsman has taken his time to ensure that the calculations of the building is precise at every angle. However, there is a steep incline to the car port. The artist may be incapable of finding the infinity point where his perspective has been skewed, but it is his patients with the outlines that brings the very best of his penmanship.

It should be noted that the aesthetics in architecture in Trinidad and Tobago has shifted to accommodate the trends in homes designed for colder climates. The finest example may be the new residence to the Prime Minster in its garishness and taste that lacks anything other than Caribbean. It a sample where architects foresee profit over the aesthetics of a place, and where owners are inadequate in their identity.

A wall painting for a hardware store, Barataria, Trinidad, W. I

Sam's Mystical Racing Service

This is Sam's Racing Service, located at Curepe, Trinidad, W.I. What can be said about these thoroughbreds are the animals look as if they are galloping from a mystical racetrack which the artist has painted with much zeal.

All bets are that horse # 2 will win the race as she begins to floats over the guardrail. Yet, it is a work that has an sweet affectionateness in its visual adaptation.

A wall painting on board, Curepe, Trinidad, W.I.

Cakes For All Occasions.

On this painted sign for the Daily Bread Bakery, it says; For the best, Hops.Bread.Cakes.Pastries.Bakes. Pizzas.Pies and then ends with For All Occasions. What does that mean?

The artists has rendered three delicious three delicious culinary desserts which are a sugar coated donut, a sliced loaf of bread and a large cake that seemed to be baked from a Jell-O mold. There is something usually how ungainly the cake sits.

A Bakery sign of the Eastern Main Road,Trinidad, W.I

To all the virgin martyrs - Saint Agnes

Since the fourth century, Saint. Agnes has been regarded a martyr in the purest sense through Christian beliefs. She endured a fate where she was tortured and decapitated by a sword to protect her virginity. She was canonized in 1950.

Here in Saint James, Trinidad, West Indies, an artist has a deep devotion to her. A fable of her martyrdom is re-erected in a pictorial that seems set much later or just confused by the accuracy surrounding her time. Hence, the virgin, the halo as yellow paint skirting her cloaked head, her long hair, the lamb, the sword, the meadow and of cause, the brightly painted red picket fence.

According to the notes of Leonardo Da Vinci, he found that humility was the most striking by example of the lamb which will submit to any animal; and when they are given for food to imprisoned lions they were as gentle to them as to their own mother, so that very often it has been seen that the lions forbear to kill them. We in Trinidad and Tobago prefer lamb to be curried.

Saint Agnes, airbrushed on the entrance of Saint Agnes Church, St. James, Trinidad, W. I.

The Annunciation at Black Rock Tobago

The Annunciation marks the visit of the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary, during which he told her that she would be the mother of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

At the Black Rock Transfiguration Anglican church in Tobago, West Indies, a mural is painted with a Biblical teaching in mind. At the entrance of the church, two unpainted concrete obelisks support an archway with spheres. This leads to a white semi-circular filigree disc and above it, a second carving of filigree patterns comprise of geometric shapes that resemble the Star of David. Light, therefore can penetrate through the maze to revitalize the congregation with beams of early Sunday sun-rays.

The front facade of the church is divided by two murals, painted by an artist commissioned to God's word or perhaps by a member of the congregation with a high-strung zest for flair and bolts of cloth, and a calling for two or three basic colours; Blue, magenta and brown. Yet,to put his name to a work with such great Biblical significance supersedes the likelihood that the mural will fade over the years by God's divine awaking.

The wall paintings are depictions of the Annunciation and John the Baptist with the Virgin Mary at the shore of the Tobago seascape, Black Rock.

Transfiguration at Black Rock: Emulsion on concrete 10 x 12 feet x 2

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

A master captured

It is moments like this that makes you stop and ponder, what could he be thinking of? It is not a sitting portrait of a King or head of a State....so why does the painter seem so deep in thought?

Just minutes ago this artist was working on his master piece. It appears to be a painting of an antique cabinet made from purple heart wood by the hue of the wall painting. The artist kept measuring the upper part of the cabinet with his hands, then he stepped back to see if the painting's perspective was correct. -thebookmann

A smoker's campaign

There are many small grocer shops located on the curb off streets across Trinidad and Tobago. It is a place were you could pick up a small item like a Newspaper or have a quick breakfast of gizzard and hops. They also sell cigarettes and when you get the smoker's urge for nicotine you can purchase a single fag to quell your addiction. These are kept in a small clear bottle.

Advertiser tend to market tobacco in a sophisticated way, it is always shown as glamorous or sheik. And like the seductiveness and pleasures surrounding smoking, there are painting signs that depict a woman in a black short skirt, a man in a tuxedo or as illustrated, a nude woman cantering on the beach at sunset attached to outer wood rafters or nailed to the concrete walls of these shops. see thebookmann's header taken from one of these signs.

This is a cigarette campaign that uses large airbrushed work on aluminum. They are a series of the envisioned Black Gold's lifestyle smoker.- thebookmann

A mirror reveals a wall painter

Mirror mirror on the wall whose the ugliest of them all?

According to the owner of this wall paintings, the artist, for a small fee completed a series of paintings in a evening or two. Drawn from movie posters, a panoramic montage is used to advertise a video store. Located off Chaguanas, Trinidad and Tobago, the painter was able to brush up a few popular movie hits. There is the Xman, Terminator and as illustrated the Brother Grimm's fairytale, Snow White. thebookmann's header is also derived from one of his painting.

What more is telling as to the human condition, between good and evil, self importance and selflessness. Art in many ways reveals the truth. -thebookmann

Paradise within paradise

Now and again thebookmann highlights the best of street art which has been documented and archived throughout Trinidad and Tobago. These painting are generally executed by a novice or street sense artists who has been given the opportunity to paint and decorate the walls of a drinking bar. Basically it is a woman with a thong wading in knee deep sea water or a scenic Caribbean landscape with coconut trees, sunsets and soring wildlife.

This painting on an abandoned shed captures the prize for its truest interpretation. Incomplete though, the composition is taken from scenic references just outside of its parameters. The shed sits at a crest over looking Paramin on the way to Maracas bay on the North Coast road, Trinidad and Tobago -thebookmann

2020 vision - sugar cane farmers

Those we do bless
This art work is located at a major intersection in Chaguanas, Trinidad and Tobago. It is one of the twelve or so murals painted on a wall by high school students. These murals showcase the importance of the borough, and landmarks that represent the small Republic.

In the distance, it is the new vision of Port of Spain where Trinidadians are commuting to and from the city by bullet-train. Yet at the centre the backbone of the country is represented by sugarcane farmers cultivating the enriched land. -thebookmann

The moment that defines you

Every action has its consequences

There is a general saying that all things happen for a reason and although we may not agree to the way it is expressed to us, we have to pause and took towards ourselves to seek the very answer.

The stencil of the girl crying because of her broken heart has more meaning to Trinidad and Tobago than the graffiti artist had anticipated. - thebookmann