I am very pleased to be able to publish this photo essay by Errol Ross Brewster, as a first post on his work. It will be followed by a two-part interview with him (click here for part I). “BEWARE THE PROMISE TODAY” is a photo essay about the demise in Guyana, in the early 1970s,... Continue Reading →
From the Archives: Osmond Watson (1934-2005)
While I work on several new blog posts, here is another excerpt from my doctoral dissertation, "Between Nation and Market: Art and Society in Twentieth Century Jamaica" (Emory, 2011) - (C) Veerle Poupeye, all rights reserved. Osmond Watson was one of the key artists of the post-independence period in Jamaica. The painter and sculptor Osmond... Continue Reading →
Some Reflections on Petrona Morrison’s “New Works” Exhibition
Some works of art reveal their content easily. Others challenge the viewer, and sometimes also the artist, to the point of resisting explanation. This is not a popular approach these days, in a context where easy artistic legibility is promoted by some, populistically, as a necessary condition for democratizing the arts, and artistic opacity dismissed... Continue Reading →
Petrona Morrison – New Works
The acclaimed Jamaican multi-media artist Petrona Morrison will be having a solo exhibition, entitled New Works, which opens at 10A West King’s House Road, on Saturday, September 14. Petrona Morrison holds a BA (Fine Arts) from McMaster University and an MFA from Howard University. She has exhibited locally and internationally, in exhibitions such as the... Continue Reading →
From the Archives: David Pottinger (1911-2007)
While I work on some other projects (about which more soon), here is another short excerpt from my doctoral dissertation, “Between Nation and Market: Art and Society in Twentieth Century Jamaica” (Emory, 2011) – (C) Veerle Poupeye, all rights reserved. Unlike [Albert] Huie, David Pottinger’s talent was entirely homegrown: he attended Edna Manley’s free art... Continue Reading →
Riddles of Identity: Tessa Mars in Context
This essay was written as a commission by Le Centre d'Art for the catalogue of the exhibition by the Haitian artist Tessa Mars titled "île Modèle-Manman Zile-Island Template", at the Maison Dufort in Port-au-Prince, May 31-June 29, 2019. It was translated into French for the catalogue. The original English version is posted here, with permission... Continue Reading →