'Salt and Sugar' at the Mutual Gallery

THE MUTUAL Gallery presents 'Salt and Sugar', an exhibition of recent paintings by Stafford Schliefer, set to open tomorrow at 7:00 p.m.

Stafford Schliefer's career spans a period of more than 30 years. His distinctive expressionist style explores symbols that characterise the very essence of a Caribbean way of life. His works in the present exhibition in which he pays tribute to sugar workers and seamen exude colour and rhythm.

His love for painting goes back to his early childhood. He shunned the formal education of an art school and chose instead to hang around the studios of artists such as Leister Gunther who encouraged him to paint. He exhibited at the Jamaica Festival of Fine Arts in 1969, marking the start of his professional career. Since then he has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in Canada, the United States, Germany and Jamaica.

Early participation in international exhibitions 'A Generation of Jamaican Art' (1969) and 'Three Decades of Jamaican Painting' (1971) at the Commonwealth Institute Art Gallery, London, England, shaped his career. His most prestigious exhibitions are the invitations to represent the Northern Zone (USA) at the 'Second World Black and African Festival or Arts and Culture' in Nigeria in 1975 and his more recent participation in 'Caribbean Visions: Contemporary Paintings and Sculpture' (1995) touring the United States and Europe.

Stafford Schliefer's work is represented in many prestigious collections: the estate of The Right Hon. Michael Manley, O.M., former Prime Minister of Jamaica, H.E. William Hewitt, former U.S. Ambassador & Mrs. Hewitt (The John Deare Collection, USA), the collections of the National Gallery of Jamaica and the Bank of Jamaica as well as many international bank collections. Presentations of his paintings have been made to Nelson Mandela, former Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi of Japan, His Holiness Pope John Paul, and former US President Bill Clinton, by various administrations over the last 30 years.

Stafford Schliefer was recognised for his work in publications such as Who's Who in American Art, 1976 edition; Personalities of the West and Mid-West, 1997-98 edition and American Artists of Renown, 1981-82 edition, among others.

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