Publisher of Draconian Switch and playing its part in the documentation of the exciting contemporary art scene of Trinidad and Tobago. View the site www.artzpub.com join the group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=30138216896
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Hartford Advocate: West Indian Exultation
West Indian Exultation
Many voices, many images offer an alternate view of the English-speaking Caribbean
Photo courtesy Real Art Ways
"Re-Identified III," by O'Neil Lawrence.
Rockstone and Bootheel:
Contempory West Indian Art
Through March 14, 2010, Real Art Ways, 56 Arbor St., Hartford, (860) 232-1006, realartways.org; Gallery hours: Sunday, Tuesday-Thursday, 2-9:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 2-10 p.m.
http://www.hartfordadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=15985
Solitary Alchemist: An intimate study of life and art
By ANDRE BAGOO Monday, December 21 2009
read it all here...
ONE OF the most touching moments in The Solitary Alchemist is its dedication. The film, directed by Mariel Brown, premiered at the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival in September, mere days after the death of Brown’s father the influential journalist and poet Wayne Brown. A title card at the end of the film reads: “In loving memory of Wayne Brown...”
It is a fitting end to a film that is about an artist coming to terms with self-doubt over the trajectory of her career and with her own peculiar emotions.read it all here...
Another chance to visit the Alice Yard Shop
Following the Alice Yard Shop exhibition and sale last Saturday, we've had many requests for a second opportunity to view and purchase artworks from the Shop inventory. Here's your chance: the Alice Yard Shop will open again on Thursday 24 December, from 1.00 to 7.00 pm.
Christmas Eve is an extremely busy time for many people, but if you need to buy an intriguing and unexpected last-minute present for someone--or simply want a break from errands, crowds, and traffic--stop by Alice Yard and take a look at our selection of artists' limited editions and multiples, design objects, and original artworks. Most of these items are modestly priced--you can pick something up for as little as a dollar--and all purchases help support Alice Yard and its programme of events.
Please spread the word--this is Alice Yard's first and only fundraising event for 2009--and if you can't make it to the yard on Thursday, you can still browse a selection of artworks at the new Alice Yard Shop website.
Artists with works in the Alice Yard Shop include Akuzuru, Ashraph, Christopher Cozier, Marlon Darbeau, Michelle Isava, Jaime Lee Loy, Brianna McCarthy, Kavir Mootoo, Nikolai Noel, Suzanne Nunez, Richard Rawlins, Seon Thompson, Rodell Warner, Adam Williams, Robert Young, and 12 the band.
As always, all are invited.
Monday, December 21, 2009
PICTURE OF THE DAY...
Cocoyea Brooms by Marlon Darbeau
The Alice Yard Shop opening Saturday 19th December, 2009
JAMES HACKETT LAUNCHES THE PRINT SHOP
Finally?
So here I am having achieved a major milestone, successfully completing this semester and now having over 100 daily consecutive posts at my blog. Over that time I have recieved a number of requests for prints of some of the pieces there and well, I did not have the time to try put together a store and plan it. Well now for Christmas I am going to spend sometime to get this going and hopefully people might be obliged to patronise me and my prints. Spread the word will you and feel free to check the daily posts over at shizzies.com.
In the future I will open up more options for purchasing etc including downloads.
Love and Respect.
James
Friday, December 18, 2009
Picture of the day...
"Lord S'Shamus Haraktet" by Ayodhya Ouditt @ RISD
I am Lord S'Shamus Haraktet,
God-King of The Fire Empire,
of the capital, Khazadram, in the East.
God-King of The Fire Empire,
of the capital, Khazadram, in the East.
Long before the earth was strong,
the wind could laugh, the water could run...
long before mother and father were as one...
before time was time... there was a fire.
the wind could laugh, the water could run...
long before mother and father were as one...
before time was time... there was a fire.
It was the first fire...
one so small that it existed
before space... and yet,
from it was born the cosmos,
and in it... the sun.
The ancients said
"the fire in the sun...
is the fire in your heart...
is the fire in your eye!"
I am the god of the sun.
The Incas called me Inti.
The Egyptians knew me as Re Herekty.
The Hindus called me Dyaus...
and the Greeks said Apollo.
I have many names and many powers.
I am the giver of life and the taker.
I am the beginning and the end.
I am the everything and the nothing.
For four and a half billion years
I have watched your world,
and in an equal number of
days I will end it.
one so small that it existed
before space... and yet,
from it was born the cosmos,
and in it... the sun.
The ancients said
"the fire in the sun...
is the fire in your heart...
is the fire in your eye!"
I am the god of the sun.
The Incas called me Inti.
The Egyptians knew me as Re Herekty.
The Hindus called me Dyaus...
and the Greeks said Apollo.
I have many names and many powers.
I am the giver of life and the taker.
I am the beginning and the end.
I am the everything and the nothing.
For four and a half billion years
I have watched your world,
and in an equal number of
days I will end it.
I, the one true god,
the absolute, the impossible...
I shall return you to the heart of the sun,
and you shall have peace.
- Ayodhya Ouditt
the absolute, the impossible...
I shall return you to the heart of the sun,
and you shall have peace.
- Ayodhya Ouditt
Introducing the Alice Yard Shop
This coming Saturday, we will launch the Alice Yard Shop, a new intervention in Trinidad's commercial art market. Rather than a permanent retail outlet, the Shop is an exhibition and sale of artists' limited editions and multiples, design objects, and some original artworks, reasonably priced and intended to be affordable to beginning collectors. Every few months the Alice Yard Shop will exhibit a new selection of works and objects, which will also be available for purchase online.
The first Shop exhibition and sale opens at 6.00 pm on Saturday 19 December, 2009. It will feature objects by a range of artists who have been involved in Alice Yard's activities over the past year, including Akuzuru, Christopher Cozier, Marlon Darbeau, Michelle Isava, Jaime Lee Loy, Brianna McCarthy, Nikolai Noel, Suzanne Nunez, Richard Rawlins, Seon Thompson, Rodell Warner, Adam Williams, and Robert Young.
All are invited.
For more information, contact helloaliceyard@gmail.com
Thursday, December 17, 2009
MARTIN PARR AT ABOVE: A MUST SEE SHOW AND TELL FOR EVERY YOUNG AND ASPIRING PHOTOGRAPHER
Abovegroup presents Show & Tell Special:
Photographer Martin Parr
Friday, 8th January 2010 from 7:30pm
“Henri Cartier-Bresson came to
my Small World opening in Paris
in 1995 and said I was from
another planet!
I always cherish this remark,
and wrote back, I know
what you mean,
but why shoot the messenger?”
- MARTIN PARR
ABOUT MARTIN PARR
Martin Parr is a chronicler of our age. In the face of the constantly
growing flood of images released by the media, his photographs offer us
the opportunity to see the world from his unique perspective.
At first glance, his photographs seem exaggerated or even grotesque. The
motifs he chooses are strange, the colours are garish and the perspectives are unusual.
Parr’s term for the overwhelming power of published images
is “propaganda”. He counters this propaganda with his own chosen
weapons: criticism, seduction and humour. As a result, his photographs
are original and entertaining, accessible and understandable. But at the
same time they show us in a penetrating way that we live, how we
present ourselves to others, and what we value.
Leisure, consumption and communication are the concepts that this
British photographer has been researching for several decades now on his
worldwide travels. In the process, he examines national characteristics
and international phenomena to find out how valid they are as symbols
that will help future generations to understand our cultural peculiarities.
Parr enables us to see things that have seemed familiar to us in a
completely new way. In this way he creates his own image of society,
which allows us to combine an analysis of the visible signs of globalisation
with unusual visual experiences. In his photos, Parr juxtaposes specific
images with universal ones without resolving the contradictions.
Individual characteristics are accepted and eccentricities are treasured.
The themes Parr selects and his inimitable treatment of them set him
apart as a photographer whose work involves the creation of extensive
series. Part of his unusual strategy is to present and publish the same
photos in the context of art photography, in exhibitions and in art books,
as well as in the related fields of advertising and journalism. In this way,
he transcends the traditional separation of the different types of
photography. Thanks to this integrative approach, as well as his style and
his choice of themes, he has long served as a model for the younger
generation of photographers.
Martin Parr sensitises our subconscious – and once we’ve seen his
photographs, we keep on discovering these images over and over again in
our daily lives and recognising ourselves within them. The humour in
these photographs makes us laugh at ourselves, with a sense of
recognition and release.
- Thomas Weski
Martin Parr is a chronicler of our age. In the face of the constantly
growing flood of images released by the media, his photographs offer us
the opportunity to see the world from his unique perspective.
At first glance, his photographs seem exaggerated or even grotesque. The
motifs he chooses are strange, the colours are garish and the perspectives are unusual.
Parr’s term for the overwhelming power of published images
is “propaganda”. He counters this propaganda with his own chosen
weapons: criticism, seduction and humour. As a result, his photographs
are original and entertaining, accessible and understandable. But at the
same time they show us in a penetrating way that we live, how we
present ourselves to others, and what we value.
Leisure, consumption and communication are the concepts that this
British photographer has been researching for several decades now on his
worldwide travels. In the process, he examines national characteristics
and international phenomena to find out how valid they are as symbols
that will help future generations to understand our cultural peculiarities.
Parr enables us to see things that have seemed familiar to us in a
completely new way. In this way he creates his own image of society,
which allows us to combine an analysis of the visible signs of globalisation
with unusual visual experiences. In his photos, Parr juxtaposes specific
images with universal ones without resolving the contradictions.
Individual characteristics are accepted and eccentricities are treasured.
The themes Parr selects and his inimitable treatment of them set him
apart as a photographer whose work involves the creation of extensive
series. Part of his unusual strategy is to present and publish the same
photos in the context of art photography, in exhibitions and in art books,
as well as in the related fields of advertising and journalism. In this way,
he transcends the traditional separation of the different types of
photography. Thanks to this integrative approach, as well as his style and
his choice of themes, he has long served as a model for the younger
generation of photographers.
Martin Parr sensitises our subconscious – and once we’ve seen his
photographs, we keep on discovering these images over and over again in
our daily lives and recognising ourselves within them. The humour in
these photographs makes us laugh at ourselves, with a sense of
recognition and release.
- Thomas Weski
martinparr.com
magnumphotos.com
Show & Tell is a monthly event hosted by Abovegroup in their studio at
Seven, The Fernandes Industrial Centre, Port of Spain, Trinidad.
Each event features short presentations by globally-minded creatives who have touched the Caribbean environment, vernacular or culture as reference points.
Graphic Design / Photography / Advertising / Branding / Writing / Poetry / Illustration / Architecture / Interior Design / Furniture Design / Landscape Architecture / Urban Planning / Typography / Identity / Chocolate Blending / Spirit Blending / Publishing / Fashion Design / Retail Design / Jewelry / Sculpture / Music / Film / Animation / Fine Arts / just about anything else. Work can be commercial, non-commercial, published, conceptual, personal, whatever.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Introducing the Alice Yard Shop
Courtesy Alice YARD
This coming Saturday, we will launch the Alice Yard Shop, a new intervention in Trinidad's commercial art market. Rather than a permanent retail outlet, the Shop is an exhibition and sale of artists' limited editions and multiples, design objects, and some original artworks, reasonably priced and intended to be affordable to beginning collectors. Every few months the Alice Yard Shop will exhibit a new selection of works and objects, which will also be available for purchase online.
The first Shop exhibition and sale opens at 6.00 pm on Saturday 19 December, 2009. It will feature objects by a range of artists who have been involved in Alice Yard's activities over the past year, including Akuzuru, Christopher Cozier, Marlon Darbeau, Michelle Isava, Brianna McCarthy, Nikolai Noel, Suzanne Nunez, Richard Rawlins, Rodell Warner, Adam Williams, and Robert Young.
All are invited.
For more information, contact helloaliceyard@gmail.com
BIG RED & SHINY: ROCKSTONE
Christopher Cozier, Sound System, sound performance
http://www.bigredandshiny.com/cgi-bin/retrieve.pl?issue=issue121§ion=review&article=2009103092515110464210883
The Caribbean's geopolitical position in relation to the rest of the Americas, Africa and Europe is peculiar, even special. Knowingly, many of these artists are involved in savvy creole disruptions of the dominant racist, misogynist, homophobic, imperialist West (that is, the very world powers which brought them to this painful uniqueness). They engage in identity bricolage not as a means of desperate, hegemonic survival so much as a strategy for successful artistry and worldly self-awareness. Real Art Ways' informed presentation pays due attention and appreciation to this area of the world whose cultural impact has been felt globally, yet vastly under-recognized for decades.
read it all here
Real Art Ways
"Rockstone and Bootheel: Contemporary West Indian Art" is curated by Kristina Newman-Scott and Yona Backer, on view November 14, 1009 - March 14, 2010 at Real Art Ways, 56 Arbor St., Hartford, CT. The 39 participating artists are Akuzuru, Ewan Atkinson, Lawrence Graham-Brown, Renee Cox, Christopher Cozier, Blue Curry, Sonya Clark, Makandal Dada, Annalee Davis, Khalil Deane, Zachary Fabri, Joscelyn Gardner, Marlon Griffith, Satch Hoyt, Christopher Irons, Leasho Johnson, Ras Kassa, Jayson Keeling, O'Neil Lawrence, Christina Leslie, Simone Leigh, Jaime Lee Loy, Dave McKenzie, Wendell McShine, Petrona Morrison, Karyn Olivier, Zak Ove, Ebony G. Patterson, Omari Ra, Peter Dean Rickards, Nadine Robinson, Sheena Rose, Oneika Russell, Heino Schmid, Phillip Thomas, Adele Todd, Nari Ward, Jay Will and Dave Williams.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Friday, December 11, 2009
NIKOLAI NOEL'S THE DIMMING AT ALICE YARD
Pictures from the opening night...
Artist discussion between Nikolai Noel and Nicholas Laughlin
Introducing masquREADER literary blog
Welcome to Masqureader, a literary blog devoted to giving a space for new and innovative writers in Trinidad and Tobago. Each Friday they will publish work by young contemporary artists, featuring both fiction and non fiction writing and ...really just about anything else they think is cool, new and different.
Check it out here
Thursday, December 10, 2009
LAUREN HINDS SKETCH IN STORIES
Lauren Hinds is from Trinidad and Tobago. She began her career as a freelance illustrator with a national newspaper in Trinidad and has worked as a Graphic Designer and Bookbinder for a number of years. She is currently based in the United States pursuing her interest in visual narratives and comics publications at the Center for Cartoon Studies.
This is her blog SKETCH IN STORIES
TOO MUCH EYES
Came across a strange retro kinda blog recently... TOO MUCH EYES
Check it all out here.
Cool videos featuring pan on sesame street, and did you know that Tom and Jerry visited Trinidad and Tobago. Frickin' hilarious.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
SEON THOMPSON SMALL TING
This animation by Seon Thompson explores the Trinidadian phrase small ting and how it is used in various situations within the Caribbean society.
http://copybookpage.blogspot.com
The Dimming at Alice Yard Friday 11 December
The Dimming (1) 10x10 inches
The Dimming is a series of new drawings by Nikolai Noel — dark, puzzling, and by turns sinister, witty, sly. These works on paper play with ideas of narrative, sequence, congruence, consequence — notions of absence, isolation, harm, magic, fear — and cumulatively suggest either distress or sanctity, a state of peace, contentment, rest.
The drawings will be installed at Alice Yard for one week, and the exhibition opens at 8.00 pm on Friday 11 December.
All are invited.
Read it all here at aliceyard's blog.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
THE GLOBAL CARIBBEAN EXHIBIT
THE GLOBAL CARIBBEAN
The exhibit, curated by Edouard Duval-Carrié, an internationally renowned artist living in Little Haiti in the heart of Miami , is a major project launched by Caraibes en Creation, a new program of Culturesfrance, the french Government agency for international cultural exchanges.
The exhibit features 23 Caribbean artists among them Trinidadian artists,
Nicole Awai, Christopher Cozier and Marlon Griffith.
Christopher Cozier (Alice Yard)
Nicole Awai
Marlon Griffith
Monday, December 7, 2009
GAZA AND GULLY KEYCHAINS FI SALE!!!
GULLY
GAZA
Great work by Seon Thompson
http://copybookpage.blogspot.comGaza mi seh and Gully for life!!!!
So this "Gaza and Gully" uprising that has been spreading from community to community got me thinking. I asked myself why we Trinidadians always following other people's culture? We are like a big piece of tracing paper. So you know the saying 'if you cant beat them join them so I decided to use the hype behind the 'Gaza and Gully' feud to promote my Key chains that represented the two waring fractions. read it all hereSHOW AND TELL 6 THE CLAY AND THE CLOTH
Above Group's sixth show and tell was the bomb.
Hot tunes by DJ Irukandji, presentations by Robert Young and Adam Williams.
DJ Irukandji
www.myspace.com/djirukandjitt
This version of the show and tell featured Adam Williams / Pottery and Robert Young of The Cloth
A bit about Williams
Trinidad-born Williams flitted between Trinidad and Barbados in his early years before attending the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD) in Toronto, Canada, where he majored in Drawing and Painting. In 2003 he took an introductory ceramics class and spent the remaining time at the college continuing with figurative drawing and painting along with ceramic studies. Since 2004 he has shown his pieces at local galleries and small exhibits. In 2007 he was the first artist to show work at Alice Yard. Williams currently works and teaches from his Diego Martin studio.
A bit about Young
The Cloth started as a collaborative some 23 years ago. For the last 15 years Robert Young has single handedly maintained the label, which has come to represent a unique, dynamic and always original Caribbean aesthetic. Robert is perhaps best described as conscientious yet daring. Each collection seems to represent a variation on a similar theme yet always aware of the global trends without losing sight of the context of his environment.His work embodies elements of traditional folk, the spirit of revolution and an interest in restoration and integration.
Here are a few pix (courtesy Alex Smailes) from the show and tell...
Robert Young talks restoration and integration...
The Cloth's Fashion Installation
( the models were chosen from the crowd)
Adam Williams works the pottery wheel...
and mesmerises the crowd...
pottery hypnosis as Adam throws a pot...
One audience member was overheard commenting:
"Adam's presentation was very exciting for me and made me see ceramics in a more humorous and contemporary light. Just amazing."
Join the group http://www.facebook.com/home.php?src=fftb#/pages/Port-of-Spain-Trinidad-and-Tobago/Above-Group/30435198245
Hot tunes by DJ Irukandji, presentations by Robert Young and Adam Williams.
DJ Irukandji
www.myspace.com/djirukandjitt
This version of the show and tell featured Adam Williams / Pottery and Robert Young of The Cloth
A bit about Williams
Trinidad-born Williams flitted between Trinidad and Barbados in his early years before attending the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD) in Toronto, Canada, where he majored in Drawing and Painting. In 2003 he took an introductory ceramics class and spent the remaining time at the college continuing with figurative drawing and painting along with ceramic studies. Since 2004 he has shown his pieces at local galleries and small exhibits. In 2007 he was the first artist to show work at Alice Yard. Williams currently works and teaches from his Diego Martin studio.
A bit about Young
The Cloth started as a collaborative some 23 years ago. For the last 15 years Robert Young has single handedly maintained the label, which has come to represent a unique, dynamic and always original Caribbean aesthetic. Robert is perhaps best described as conscientious yet daring. Each collection seems to represent a variation on a similar theme yet always aware of the global trends without losing sight of the context of his environment.His work embodies elements of traditional folk, the spirit of revolution and an interest in restoration and integration.
Here are a few pix (courtesy Alex Smailes) from the show and tell...
Robert Young talks restoration and integration...
The Cloth's Fashion Installation
( the models were chosen from the crowd)
Adam Williams works the pottery wheel...
and mesmerises the crowd...
pottery hypnosis as Adam throws a pot...
One audience member was overheard commenting:
"Adam's presentation was very exciting for me and made me see ceramics in a more humorous and contemporary light. Just amazing."
Join the group http://www.facebook.com/home.php?src=fftb#/pages/Port-of-Spain-Trinidad-and-Tobago/Above-Group/30435198245
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Colorful, Witty, Noisy: A West Indies Mélange
NY TIMES REVIEW OF ROCKSTONE & BOOTHEEL
The full range and complexity of the work in this show
must be experienced to be properly appreciated. “Rockstone & Bootheel”
is a brilliant mélange of sights, sounds and stories, through which the colorful
culture of the West Indies springs alive.
Read it all here.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/06/nyregion/06artct.html?_r=1
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Urban Celebration by Lisa Rajkumar-Maharaj, Urban Celebration
Urban Celebration by Lisa Rajkumar-Maharaj, Urban Celebration.
This thesis focuses on the nature of urban public space. Street Festivals are a type of urban occupation that has the power to revolutionise the way that people interact with their cities.
A City With Two Faces therefore considers the city as a double headed entity, comprised of both the Ordinary and Extrordinary realms. This thesis focuses on the nature of the
I have used my paintings within this thesis as a means of conveying an impression of the robust experience of Carnival
go check it out here...http://www.urbancelebration.blogspot.com/
DRAWING BY ALICIA MILNE
Drawing
A few drawings from Abovegroup's most recent drawing session. These sessions are held every three weeks, not often enough. I am enjoying just taking a line for a walk to warm my hand up.Alicia Milne
READ HER BLOG HERE at INTRIGUING THINGS http://intriguingthings.blogspot.com
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