Veerle Poupeye's blog about art in the Caribbean and beyond
It's a well-known dilemma: the support of the State is almost always needed to establish and maintain cultural institutions, irrespective of whether these are part of the public sector or privately initiated, and of whether they are publicly funded, in full or in part, or merely get in-principle support and blessings. In Jamaica, public cultural... Continue Reading →
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 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 →
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 →
It appears that sometime in June this year, there were two major staff appointments at the National Gallery of Jamaica (NGJ): O'Neil Lawrence, who previously served as Senior Curator, was promoted to Chief Curator, and Dr Jonathan Greenland, who had been acting as Executive Director since shortly after I left, became Senior Director. This first... Continue Reading →
Katrina Coombs - Golden Flow This is part two of a two-part post. The first part can be found here. Taking a closer look at the NGJ Summer Exhibition reveals a few pleasant surprises but also pulls the exhibition’s weaknesses and failings into sharper perspective. Perhaps the most outstanding work in the exhibition is Lucille... Continue Reading →
Perspectives 