National Biennial
SHOWCASING THE WORK OF JAMAICA'S EMERGING ARTISTS.
To begin our annual art retrospective, we feature the National Biennial held December 2010. We took a virtual tour through our archives selecting the memorable, the provocative, the gruesome, the curious and the ‘why on earth was that selected’ art...
The big art always gets attention first. There was a huge work by Omari Ra, well placed as you entered - a visual assault setting the stage for what was to come. Next in the big category, were the installations – Ebony Patterson with her attention-grabbing ghetto glitz, and by contrast, Laura Facey’s minimalist installation of a massive plumb line suspended from the ceiling. In the forefront of the controversial art was work by Michael Flyn Elliot who explored charged subjects of death and decay.
Ceramics was fairly well represented with work by Norma Harrack, Jag Mehta, Michael Layne, David Pinto, and Margaret McGhie. There was also a whimsical painted vase by Amy Laskin, ceremonial-style drum by Phillip Supersad and colourful ancestral totems by Uhuru – the young potters were notably absent, are they not submitting?
Fine art photography was an area of strong interest, with some traditional, but mostly digital imaging presented in surreal and abstract art form, vibrantly coloured and highly stylized. It was an impressive line up of work by established, as well as up-and-coming photographers including Jeremy Francis, Franz Marzouca, Donnette Zacca, Robin Farquharson, Cosmo Whyte, O’Neil Lawrence, Marlon James, and Storm Saulter. Iconic images, in poster form, by digital illustrator Michael Thompson were striking.
Sculpture saw a grouping of stone resin steel torsos by Raymond Watson, an intricately carved alabaster bust by Peter Johnson, as well as wood sculptures in guango and lignum vitae. There was a trend in multiple boxed frames filled with curios, some Pop art and mixed media assemblages. Artists of note, who we have since seen making great headway in 2011 include Andrae Green, Gerard Hanson, Phillip Thomas, and Oliver Myrie.
This was the fifth staging of the National Biennial and over 80 artists were represented. The Aaron Matalon Award was presented to sculptor Laura Facey, and ceramicist Gene Pearson and artist Gaston Tabois were both recognized for receiving Silver Musgrave Medals.
