From left, Rosalie Smith-Mcrea, 'Beckford's Dream:Through A Looking Glass Lightly', and Kippax Williams' 'Beach'.
THE NATIONAL Gallery of Jamaica's grand art exhibition, the National Biennial opens today. This exhibition, which is set to engage the mind, body and spirit of all art enthusiasts, will feature works in drawing, painting, sculpture including assemblage, installation, collages, original prints, ceramics, fibre art and photography from renowned Jamaican artists such as Margaret Chen, Osmond Watson, Christopher Gonzales, Laura Facey Cooper, Colin Garland, Norma Rodney- Harrack and David Marchand among many others.
The National Gallery of Jamaica's National Exhibitions are by nature diverse, to the point of being eclectic, and the exhibits always combine the conventional with the innovative and, at times, the controversial. This second National Biennial, which gains added significance from the National Gallery of Jamaica's 30th anniversary celebrations, promises to be no different and several works, in fact, address current polemics in Jamaican society.
JURIED ARTISTS
During the time of the annual national exhibition, which was changed to the National Biennial in 2002, a system was implemented whereby well-established artists were invited to participate while others could enter as juried artists, adjudged by a panel of judges that changed for each exhibition. The 2004 National Biennial consists of 161 works and 98 of these are by invited artists while 63 were accepted in the juried section.
Invited artist status is granted to artists who have, in the National Gallery's opinion, made a significant contribution to the development of Jamaican art. David Marchand, Khalfani Ra, Donette Zacca, and Nari Ward were added to this year's list of invited artists, although the latter was unable to enter any work for this exhibition. The juried section is open to all artists resident in Jamaica and Jamaican artists resident abroad. This year's entries were judged by a seven-member panel composed of Gilou Bauer, Natalie Butler, Norma Rodney-Harrack, Kay Sullivan and Joan Tucker. Dr. David Boxer, the chief curator of the National Gallery, chaired the panel.
One of these artists, whether invited or juried, will upon the selection of the exhibition and acquisition committee receive the coveted 2004 Aaron Matalon Award, a special biennial award which consists of a monetary prize and a uniquely designed and produced medal by the noted jeweller Carol Campbell and which uses a design based on Karl Parboosingh's famous print Seated Women. In addition, the committee may also award special 30th anniversary purchase awards for works that warrant being included in the national collection.
RENEWED ENERGY
The 2004 National Biennial opening programme brings renewed energy and focus to the arts landscape, even as it targets fulfilling the needs of the entire family. The exhibition opening will offer an all-inclusive art and entertainment package with activities designed to ignite the interest of children and adults into knowing more about the work of Jamaican artists as well as broadening their knowledge and appreciation for art.
A family activity guide will help each visitor "to explore, discover, listen, learn, look, wonder and feel the art as they explore the exhibition."
The opening ceremony will include family activities and tours and a musical performance by the 14- member St. Ann Senior Citizens Cultural Group, who will be performing a wonderful mix of revival, nine-night ring games, field songs and more will also form part of the day's activities. The guest speaker will be Oliver Clarke, O.J., chairman and managing director of the Gleaner Company Limited.
Two New York City-based Jamaican artists, Anna Henriques and Peter Wayne Lewis will host the afternoon session, 'Artist Talk'. They will discuss their work and 'What are biennials? Why do we have them?'
