Unearthing body art..
The Banks Beer flags shocked me, this was supposed to be an event organised by young people at a National venue. I felt sick that major funds seemed to have come from liquor (despite the other sponsors).. and Banks was sharing out free liquor.
There was a nice crowd, nice folk music playing, and breeze was blowing.
BravoArts had been doing fantastic promotion of their Body Art exhibition, the first of its kind in Guyana. They should be commended - this is a group of young people who have an idea and managed to mobilise resources to get that idea out.
I managed to reach early and went in to see the displays. There were two models outside and I thought, oh.. one was a girl with painting on her like leather lingerie and the other a guy with GT&T colours? So I thought, oh, oh.. this is about mashramani or something.
The attendant at Castellani told me that she was glad to see new things. I went in the room and saw the displays.. models who were painted and standing or positioned around displays with leaves, or other materials.
The organisers had said the bodies would not have been nude. I don't have a problem with nudity, I had posed nude for an artist friend a long time ago and my body ain't one that would appear in any mainstream fashion magazine. When my friend asked me to pose for his class, I said um no, unless I could put a bag on my face.
The efforts to conceal the nudity in this exhibition seemed to get in the way of the rest of the body decorations.. except for one display of the Jaguar.
The the bodies were all 'young' and 'perfect'.. the stereotype - , how did this get into the National Gallery, where was the diversity in body types and ages? I mean, a belly like mine would have made a perfect canvas for a pumpkin for the 'bread basket' display? And the agri display could find artistic ways of turning certain body parts into saeme, ochro, carailla or baigan depending on the size? And speaking about 'bread basket' , it dont mean that you have to have an actual basket there wid ting in it, or does it?
Maybe I getting overwhelmed with the whole 'enviroment' thing, but no displays showing rubbish and garbage and anything 'bad'.. , and the display about our wonderful gold and diamond don't show the part about the rivers being polluted?
Old Higue display was good, the model moved, but then I thought, they display old higue with big teeth, how we know she aint got perfect colgate teeth? And why not have a "beautiful" Old Higue?
I am not artist.. and I doubt that I could do anything like what the Bravoarts team did. I expected a bit more with all of the advertising, and I am glad they said that they will make this an annual event because it will be good to see what next year will bring.
What BravoArts also did, was bring a lot of people to Castellani House who had never been before. A few I spoke to said they came because they were curious and interested in the Body Art and one told me that other things seemed 'stuffy' and inaccessible. People I spoke to said that it was amazing!
People had to line up to get in the exhibition, and did so in good spirits, kind of like what happens sometimes in the Louvre or on the free nights in the New York museums. Would people go back to see other exhibitions - maybe if the gallery is open Friday evenings after work?
Two artists outside said that they had only done face painting before, one said that the paint was expensive . I could imagine that one of the things about Body Art is that it is transient, the model would have to wash off the paint and get on with life. The art cannot be sold or owned - so I am wondering if this makes it more precious ?
Dr Rose referred to other forms of body art in our culture - though his reference ot the rubbing of dye at maticore as art is not to my mind quite correct since in my family the rubbing of dye is as a cleanser (or to get fair and nice). BravoArts wanted to celebrate the Guyanese culture and next time it would be interesting to see what they do with things like our traditional forms and integrate into the their own designs.
The displays were designed by teams.. this is interesting. It is the first time I have looked at any kind of art which was not the product of an individual artist. It would be good to know how the individual talents produced these displays.. what was gained and what was lost - ? As I wandered around, I wondered why they did not have displays with more than one model? Or is that not body art? Does the body art only mean paint on the body as canvas - or paint mixed with cloth (not clothing), other materials, and other things - apart from leaves?
I had hoped that this exhibition would have had some body art mixed with some performance as well, but then I probably don't have any idea what Body Art is.
There was a nice crowd, nice folk music playing, and breeze was blowing.
BravoArts had been doing fantastic promotion of their Body Art exhibition, the first of its kind in Guyana. They should be commended - this is a group of young people who have an idea and managed to mobilise resources to get that idea out.
I managed to reach early and went in to see the displays. There were two models outside and I thought, oh.. one was a girl with painting on her like leather lingerie and the other a guy with GT&T colours? So I thought, oh, oh.. this is about mashramani or something.
The attendant at Castellani told me that she was glad to see new things. I went in the room and saw the displays.. models who were painted and standing or positioned around displays with leaves, or other materials.
The organisers had said the bodies would not have been nude. I don't have a problem with nudity, I had posed nude for an artist friend a long time ago and my body ain't one that would appear in any mainstream fashion magazine. When my friend asked me to pose for his class, I said um no, unless I could put a bag on my face.
The efforts to conceal the nudity in this exhibition seemed to get in the way of the rest of the body decorations.. except for one display of the Jaguar.
The the bodies were all 'young' and 'perfect'.. the stereotype - , how did this get into the National Gallery, where was the diversity in body types and ages? I mean, a belly like mine would have made a perfect canvas for a pumpkin for the 'bread basket' display? And the agri display could find artistic ways of turning certain body parts into saeme, ochro, carailla or baigan depending on the size? And speaking about 'bread basket' , it dont mean that you have to have an actual basket there wid ting in it, or does it?
Maybe I getting overwhelmed with the whole 'enviroment' thing, but no displays showing rubbish and garbage and anything 'bad'.. , and the display about our wonderful gold and diamond don't show the part about the rivers being polluted?
Old Higue display was good, the model moved, but then I thought, they display old higue with big teeth, how we know she aint got perfect colgate teeth? And why not have a "beautiful" Old Higue?
I am not artist.. and I doubt that I could do anything like what the Bravoarts team did. I expected a bit more with all of the advertising, and I am glad they said that they will make this an annual event because it will be good to see what next year will bring.
What BravoArts also did, was bring a lot of people to Castellani House who had never been before. A few I spoke to said they came because they were curious and interested in the Body Art and one told me that other things seemed 'stuffy' and inaccessible. People I spoke to said that it was amazing!
People had to line up to get in the exhibition, and did so in good spirits, kind of like what happens sometimes in the Louvre or on the free nights in the New York museums. Would people go back to see other exhibitions - maybe if the gallery is open Friday evenings after work?
Two artists outside said that they had only done face painting before, one said that the paint was expensive . I could imagine that one of the things about Body Art is that it is transient, the model would have to wash off the paint and get on with life. The art cannot be sold or owned - so I am wondering if this makes it more precious ?
Dr Rose referred to other forms of body art in our culture - though his reference ot the rubbing of dye at maticore as art is not to my mind quite correct since in my family the rubbing of dye is as a cleanser (or to get fair and nice). BravoArts wanted to celebrate the Guyanese culture and next time it would be interesting to see what they do with things like our traditional forms and integrate into the their own designs.
The displays were designed by teams.. this is interesting. It is the first time I have looked at any kind of art which was not the product of an individual artist. It would be good to know how the individual talents produced these displays.. what was gained and what was lost - ? As I wandered around, I wondered why they did not have displays with more than one model? Or is that not body art? Does the body art only mean paint on the body as canvas - or paint mixed with cloth (not clothing), other materials, and other things - apart from leaves?
I had hoped that this exhibition would have had some body art mixed with some performance as well, but then I probably don't have any idea what Body Art is.
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