Di Real Big Man (2010), by Ebony G. Patterson. Image courtesy of the National Gallery of Jamaica
One welcome recent development in the Jamaican art scene has been the launch of the National Gallery of Jamaica blog, which finally gives the NGJ a meaningful online presence. (For this we can thank Veerle Poupeye, who was appointed executive director of the gallery last year.) The NGC’s current show, Young Talent V, brings together fourteen emerging artists under forty and based in Jamaica for a survey of current and future directions in contemporary Jamaican art. (Young Talent is a series of periodic exhibitions, with previous surveys organised by the NGJ in 1985, 1989, 1995, and 2002.) It opened on 18 May, runs till 10 July, and has been amply documented at the NGJ blog.
Ahead of the opening, the NGJ has posted profiles of each Young Talent artist — with biographical information, images, and notes from the curators:
• Marvin Bartley
• Keisha Castello
• Stefan Clarke
• Michael Elliott
• Christopher Harris
• Marlon James (not to be confused with the novelist of the same name)
• Leasho Johnson
• Megan McKain
• Oliver Myrie
• Ebony G. Patterson
• Oneika Russell
• Sand
• Caroline “bops” Sardine
• Phillip Thomas
Carousel (2009), by Phillip Thomas. Image courtesy of the National Gallery of Jamaica
The July issue of the CRB will include a review of Young Talent. Meanwhile, here’s what artist and critic Petrine Archer — who participated in the first Young Talent show in 1985 — has to say:
This time around, Young Talent V offers stunning, sophisticated and superlative work that addresses contemporary issues related to history and identity, gender and sexuality, violence and social issues in ways that harness contemporary vernaculars. Its artists and curators deserve high praise for mounting a show that after a hiatus as a result of internal squabbling, commercialism and funding difficulties seems set to put Jamaican art back on the international art map.
Territorial Fad (2010; left panel of triptych), by Leasho Johnson.
Image courtesy of the National Gallery of Jamaica
