Veerle Poupeye's blog about art in the Caribbean and beyond
As one who writes about art for a living, it is important for me to be aware of the rapidly changing cultural, political and technological context in which I operate. Perhaps the most transformative development of our times is the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), which is a source of great anxiety and controversy, but... Continue Reading →
The self-taught artist Everald Brown with the author in 1987, in the Kapo Gallery at the National Gallery. Part of Kapo's head (and turban) can be seen to the right Why is it that locally directed and published art criticism has all but disappeared in Jamaica? I am talking mainly about newspaper criticism, which was... Continue Reading →
This is the first of a new series of shorter critical interventions on salient issues. The posts will pose questions, rather than to attempt to provide answers, and they are meant to be conversation starters, and comments are welcomed, as usual. There have been a lot of conversations here in the Caribbean, of late, on... Continue Reading →
The young Jamaican painter Kimani Beckford currently has a solo-exhibition tour project, titled Affirmation. The exhibition is shown at two venues: its inaugural display was held at the Jamaica Conference Centre in Kingston, in space that is used for art exhibitions by the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC), and has now closed. The second leg... Continue Reading →
As I continue my reflections on Jamaica's art histories, I am now sharing some of my thoughts on the Intuitive art designation, which has been an essential but problematic and controversial part of Jamaica's main art-historical narration. Earlier versions of this essay, which was itself extracted from my doctoral dissertation in progress (Emory, 2011 -... Continue Reading →
There is a long and not always auspicious history of artists using their work to retaliate against critics and other personal enemies. One famous example is the King Minos figure in Michelangelo's Last Judgement (1535-1541) fresco in the Sistine Chapel, which was very controversial at the time of its creation (and on several occasions after),... Continue Reading →
Perspectives 