THINGS THAT MATTER

“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” (Aristotle)

 

“The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.” (Pablo Picasso) 

 

“Not everybody trusts paintings but people believe photographs.” (Ansel Adams) 

 

“The essence of all art is to have pleasure in giving pleasure.” (Dale Carnegie)

 

Some people paint because of a powerful urge to paint – often an urgent, overpowering urge to create, to express themselves or their vision, as stated by Aristotle in the quotation above, two thousand years ago. Some paint simply for pleasure, some to amuse or entertain, some even to shock, and some to share their sense of beauty, their ideas, their souls, their inspiration and to inspire others, as suggested by Picasso above. For some with natural talent, painting or sculpting or drawing is as natural as singing when you’re happy. 

 

I paint for a bit of all of the above; and I’ve truly enjoyed the opportunity to share and enjoy and be inspired by the work of so many artists in Barbados. I’ve written already about our explosion of culture in the last few years, and especially in art, as so eloquently displayed in the magnificent on-line Arts Directory Barbados, put together by Corrie Scott and Kathy Yearwood. This 350 electronic page, gorgeous display of some 250 artists’ glorious work is a surprise to many people, and is wonderfully inspiring. It can sell Barbados, and I hope to see it both updated and available in hard copy, through the generosity of some corporate sponsor or art patron.

 

However, Corrie Scott outdoes herself every month with an equally splendid on-line Arts Events magazine; simply google: docs/april_2016 _arts_event_magazine_barb.

Here you have not only a beautiful display of all of the shows that are on this month, and many of the beautiful works on show, in spectacular colour, but also a great deal else about the arts. And Corrie’s mission is to provide “a completely free and unsponsored magazine created out of the need to inform so that we can get to exhibitions, artist talks, workshops and more, rather than hearing about events after they have taken place.”

 

And she invites anyone organising a creative event or a new piece of work to contact HYPERLINK “mailto: corriescott@gmail.com” and “Let’s get the arts out there!”

 

This month’s Arts Events displays some of the beautifully atmospheric and evocative portraits from Heidi Berger’s infinite range of ladies in every mood and motion; Alison Chapman-Andrews’ new departures in portraiture alongside Ras Ilix’s dramatic mahogany sculptures: the new (to me) ethereal portraits by Susan Alleyne Forde, in the almost Pre-Raphaelite style of John William Waterhouse or Sir Edward Burne-Jones; and the outstanding portrait photographs of Shawn Fields; and other fabulous photos by Corrie herself – each one a work of art; splendid abstracts by Eric Belgrave and Julianne Gill; and a magnificent old Harrismith by Clement Faria – and much, much more.

 

All the current and coming shows are listed, including the Art Splash ‘s Festival Art Gallery display of 38 artists, and Darla Trotman’s Art for Everyone Gallery’s amazing collection. The website allows you to access all of the last three years’ issues of the Arts Events magazine! And the point of Corrie’s magazine and these columns is to inspire you to go to the galleries and acquire that special piece to enrich your life and give you pleasure every day.

 

Bouquet: To our magnificent cricketing trio – the Under-19s, the Ladies and the Men in bringing home the championships. They all did it in style, but especially the men, with Carlos Brathwaite, our new hero, hitting four sixes off four balls to win the match! Fabulous in every way ... We can safely say that our men have been inspired by our boys and especially by our ladies, as it should be for all of us guys!