Perceptions of reality and identity are the unifying themes behind the upcoming 2 Isles exhibition at the Y Art Gallery, Woodbrook. Exhibition curator Gyerlini Clarke said the exhibition name came from the fact that the female artists, Simone Asia and Versa Harris, come from Barbados, while the male artists, Alex Kelly and Luis Vasquez La Roche, are from Trinidad.
This is Clarke's first curating project at the gallery and she said she wanted to curate something timeless. Each artist, she said, "was doing a visual exposition on some manner of reality, something that's happening to them in their space and their time. There's a place for everybody in the entire exhibit and I think each person lends to something that adds to a complete body, a complete whole."
Asia uses pen and ink drawings to detail thoughts, emotions and personal experiences. She said the use of detail is "a manifestation of the way thoughts are processed in my brain–very random, scattered, juxtaposed but all interlinked. It puts me in a trance-like state where the concept of time eludes me. It is the best distraction from my racing thoughts."
Harris' work focuses on parataxic distortion, or the way in which people see each other and events through "the skewed or tainted lens of past experiences or fantasy." By laying distorted landscapes (perception) over digital images of trees (reality), she questions whether it is possible for our minds to examine and interpret without the influence of previously held emotions, ideas and opinions.
Kelly examines cultural, social and historical circumstances that have led to the realities of life in T&T today. He said his work will hopefully provide the public with a new context for familiar points of reference.
"The goal is that a shifted perspective will elicit renewed public consideration of present realities with an aim towards determining potential solutions based on a clearer understanding of circumstances."
Vasquez la Roche's pieces deal with magic realism, subjectivity, identity, memory, language and politics. One piece consists of the retrieval of past conversations and memories using predictive text. Another is the exploration of a magic space through the use of footage made in T&T and Venezuela since 2013, while his third piece is a political commentary on the current situation in Venezuela.
Clarke said this exhibition of highly contemporary work is a departure from what the gallery normally does, but she wanted to give up-and-coming artists who are working regionally and internationally a chance to come to the gallery.
"We're not only doing an opening, we're also doing an artist's talk, we're doing visual digital installations, we're doing 3D installations as well as the two-dimensional prints and paintings and that sort of stuff, so it's a threefold experience for this show."
She said while she wants the exhibition to sell out, she would ideally want to "establish a discourse for young people coming out of schools, young artists who are working, to know that the conventions that are expected of them are not necessary and there are different ways of doing art." Clarke hopes the different types of artists represented will be inspirational to young artists who may only think of art in terms of still life and landscape.
More info
The exhibit runs from July 25-August 6, 26 Taylor Street, Woodbrook. The artists' talk will take place July 29 from 6 pm. Call 628-4165.