Gedurende het hele jaar exposeeert Gallery Alma Blou werk uit collectie van lokale en Caribische kunstenaars. Zes keer per jaar is er een solo- of groepsexpositie van één of meerdere kunstenaars.
Agenda
Suzet Rosaria
Het is met groot genoegen dat Gallery Alma Blou u uitnodigt voor de opening van de expositie van Suset Rosaria - Fusion of life. De expositie is te bezichten tot 10 oktober 2009.Zaterdag 26 augustus 2009 van 19.30 - 21.00. Gallery Alma Blou, Landhuis Habaai
Curaçaosche Prentbriefkaarten
Het is met groot genoegen dat Gallery Alma Blou u uitnodigt voor de verkoopexpositie Curaçaosche Prentbriefkaarten 1898 tot 1950 van de verzamelaar Rob van den Berg.Zaterdag 22 augustus 2009 van 10.30 - 13.30u
De heer van den Berg is aanwezig om zijn boek Prentbriefkaarten van Curaçao, catalogus uitgevers en uitgaven van 1898 tot 1950 te signeren.
Workshop lino snede J. M. Capricorne
Onder de bezielde leiding van de José Maria Capricorne wordt geleerd om een linosnede te maken. Na een introduktie over linosnede en het gebruik ervan door Capricorne, gaat u aan de slag met het maken van een ontwerp. Dit kan van alles zijn: een logo, uw initialen, een stempel die u wilt gebruiken, een exlibris. Daarna gaat u het ontwerp uitgutsen met linomesjes, dit inrollen en vervolgens afdrukken.De workshop is inclusief materiaal.
Woensdag 20 mei 2009 van 9.00 — 12.30 uur fl. 100 p/p
Black Diaspora Visual Art
The National Art Gallery Committee, Barbados, in cooperation with the Asociación Internacional de Críticos de Arte (AICA) [International Art Critics Association] and the Art Council of England, organized a symposium, exhibition and film presentation on Black Diaspora Visual Art, which events were held in the Frank Collymore Hall in Barbados on February 13 and 14, 2009. The curator in charge was David A. Baily MBE, chairman of AICA and originally hailing from Barbados.The symposium formed part of a broader scope. Between 2005 and 2006 several meetings and discussions took place in Barbados by the National Art Gallery, the Barbados Community College, curators and (‘Caribbean’) artists from England to give some master classes to local artists. After the Venice Biennale in 2007, the world’s greatest and most prestigious international art event where curators from all over the world come together, the decision was made to look into the possibilities of holding a Biennale also in Barbados. Doing so would serve 3 different purposes:
Artists and curators from Barbados will be able to present their own distinctive features both locally and internationally;
Globally recognized visual artists and curators are invited to Barbados in order to create various forums for a professional dialogue and the visual art development possibilities;
It serves as a preparation for a 10-year plan that includes the commemoration in 2017 of the Abolishment of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
The most important object of last month’s symposium was to find ways for colleagues in this field to communicate and to check out possibilities for artists, curators, critics, authors, cultural assistants and so on to work together.
Research must also be conducted of historical documentation that tells of a significant absence of individuals, groups and organizations that assisted in redefining Caribbean art. Not much is known in this field.
As the starting-point of the symposium an essay was used of Stuart Hall, entitled: ‘Modernity and its Others: Three Moments in the Post War History of the Black Diaspora Arts’. Internationally, Stuart Hall is a highly appreciated Caribbean Englishman. He is a Cultural Theoretician, and Professor Emeritus at the Open University in London.
The symposium dealt especially with the art history of the English Caribbean islands. The first thing to be pointed out is that BLACK does not refer to the color of the artist’s skin, but rather to the art he/she produces.
Hall proceeded from 3 moments in the development of the Black Diaspora Art in England: Caribbean artists who came to England after the Second World War and joined the modern avant-garde in England and were anti-colonist; the next generation of Caribbean artists who were born in England and fought for recognition of their work. The Black Art Movement arose from this development in the ’80s. The third generation is the present-day artist who works in a more globalized fashion and whose target is less political.
Other subjects that came to the fore and were repeatedly dealt with in the panel discussions were:
Is there a Caribbean canon; can we speak of Caribbean esthetics in the 21st century?
Experiences from the past, institutional models and the search for the various ways to progress.
As an art gallery owner who is chiefly focused on local art, it was very important for me to attend this symposium. Curaçao has a rich culture, but do we also have a rich art culture? What is the visual arts situation on the other islands in this Caribbean region, what do their art history and art development encompass?
Despite the lack of ample records, the Spanish, English and French islands have much richer documentation on the development of art on their island. These artists moreover often have experienced significant growth. They are responsible for the Black Art Movement in England and the Negritude movement in France. Their social-political involvement has been so important as to play a part in their region’s art development.
For our islands, alas, this has not been the case. Historically viewed, people like Chris Engels and his wife Lucila Boskaljon in the ’40s, and later on also May and Max Henriquez, contributed a great deal to the art development of a certain upper layer of our population, and they have seen to it that so many international artists have visited our island.
But no written documentation is known of visual artists who adopted a political point of view, formed a movement, kicked against politics and the establishment. Not on the islands, nor in the Netherlands.
There is some documentation, however, on visual artists and their work as listed in the book of Adi Martes & Jennifer Smit, ‘Arte, Dutch Caribbean Art’, published by the Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen [Royal Tropical Institute], 2002; but as far as I know, up till now no research is known concerning the historical development within our Dutch-Caribbean context. How does the work of artists from the Dutch Caribbean islands, residing in the Netherlands, relate to that of their Dutch colleagues? How does their art relate to that of their colleagues in the Caribbean? Are there any known historical moments that are (were) important to the artistic expressions?
In the year 2000 ‘Het Nederlandse Kunstboek’ [The Dutch Art Book] by Richard Fernhout / Colin Huizing was published by Waanders Uitgevers. This book gives “an alphabetical overview of 500 artists considered determinant for the image of Dutch art”. Not all the artists were born in the Netherlands and/or live and work there. For instance Ossip Zadkine, who is also mentioned in this book, was born in Russia, and he lived and worked in Paris. A number of the artists listed in the book come from the former East India. Only one Caribbean artist, alas, is included in this book; he was born in Surinam and resides in the Netherlands. His name: Stenley Brouwn, a brother of sculptress Hortence Brouwn who lives and works in Curaçao. Also included is one work of art that has Curaçao as a theme; it is the work of Dutch artist Jan Hendrikse (who is married to a Curaçao native).
I do not wish to speculate about the reason why this is so. But it does impress upon us the fact that we do not count at all, not in the Dutch nor in the Caribbean art culture.
How can be bring about a change in this?
There is little written material and documentation showing the real artistic practice that determines the identity of our art. What are the practices or our museums and galleries? Who are we, and who is our audience? Is there a basis where art can flourish, how are we going to identify our own route?
There is a cultural policy that mainly starts from the premise that producing art means being able to create a pretty picture, and that as many people as possible must learn to do this. We completely overlook the fact that art chiefly involves emotion and how to transform it into a visual image. Only those who are able to do this and somehow touch their public, can carry on.
For those who work cross-border and make a statement with their art there is little attention indeed and virtually no support.
Government is not aware of the fact that, if we want to raise our art to international level, a platform must be created for us to achieve this.
This symposium helped me realize that we still have a long way to go. We must pick up these issues and commence working earnestly on a solid basis on which our island art can start flourishing. We must also create the awareness that we too are significant in the art world. It is up to us to accomplish this.
