Walking by the River, 1996 Acrílico si tela IAcry/ic on canvas 130x190 cm
WINSTON 8RANCH, THE INNER LANDSCAPE André Chapot Cultural Assistant French Embassy in Castries
Attracted from the beginning to lights and colors, Winston 8ranch has given them even more emphasis in his last works. This is not surprising when we are informed that he comes from the Caribbean and that some years ago he went back to live in his native country, Saint Lucia. It would be asimplification to characterize his work only with geographical traces, but this return to his origins is surely not haphazard; not he, who lived for such along time so far from his native land; it was maturity that enabled him to go baCk and disco ver his real nature. Having eventual/y reached his life balance, he moved back to the place where his art blossoms.
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The journey was not an easy one. Atalented adolescent, he had to leave his little island because there painting was either hobby or decorative craft.
He did not have any other choice than choosing exile, going towards places that had arich artistic legacy but are frequently overcast and where light is gravo
once stated it was inevitable that after having learned much with Monet, Matisse and Nicolas de Stael, and having found out his real identity, he would have reached pure abstraction.
Nevertheless, those formative years were fundamental. From 1966 to 1970 he attended Slade School of Fine Arts, in London. He had the wil/power to overcome barriers and increasingly extend his artistic experiences, fol/owing the example of other painters such as Wifredo Lam and Roberto Matta, whose works he discovered at that time. Like himself, theyare artists that come from countries where light prevails and that had to struggle to be able to master their art. He realized that this difficult period of research was necessary to attain the universal pictoriallanguage that al/owed him to express his personality as a Caribbean painter.
After having created his own symbolic language, he unveiled to us his inner landscape. He reached maturity at the moment he went back to Saint Lucia. Now he is instal/ed in his island and has found abalance between life and painting.
This initiating trip was extended to Rome, the United States and 8erlin and regular visits to London. During this period his work became known and his painting progressed. As he himself
Using acrylic in aprevailing way, Winston 8ranch unveils to us aworld with bright colors that play with their support (wood, cardboard) and shapes. Very far from the tourist clichés, he makes us disco ver the real beauty of these islands and their deep identity. As in our century painting became auniversal language, it is important that through an artist such as Winston 8ranch the voice of the Caribbean can be heard at the 23 a Bienal Internacional de São Paulo.