autographed [it] and laughed. He laughed hard and he said, “Boy, ya really jack me right up! But I could tell ya, dats me.” What do you want people who view your art to take away? What emotion do you want to invoke? Well, [that] depends on which piece they’re looking at. Overall, I want people to be pleased by the aesthetics of my paintings. I try to be technically sound with proportions and colors, and that goes back to my formal training from the College of The Bahamas, studying art and observing the work of other artists. I want people to be mesmerized by my creativity. I want them to see God, or at least get a glimpse of who God is through my art and become introspective. That may sound obnoxious, but God is the ultimate artist—I’m just a vessel, an island boy who decided to be obedient with the gift that He has given me. So, with a little piece of God inside my mind, transcending through my eyes and my hands onto a canvas, I create art. My desire is for people to understand that they can do what I’ve done by tapping into their gifts and my hope is they know God a little better when they look at my work. When you look around the local art scene, who are some of the artists you admire and why? What a tough question! I get a lot of inspiration from home. I really admire Kishan Munroe and Allan Wallace. Kishan’s work inspires me to do more, he inspires me to be better at what I do. He’s a brilliant artist and [one] who creates good work. I admire Allan Wallace. Allan is also a brilliant artist; his work is technically sound, and his creative process is out of this world, he creates everything in his head! I’m also impressed by his humility. Remaining very humble is important to me and Allan has maintained his humility. I admire Brent Malone. He’s a giant of an artist and his work is amazing. I like how he creates. Brent is a storyteller, and I admire people who tell our stories. Stimulating conversation can be had around the dinner table, and to that end if you could invite a few people for dinner, living or dead, who would they be and why? I’d invite Bob Marley and Ronnie Butler to dinner. Bob Marley because he wasn’t impressed by the world and its systems. He created his own path, while simultaneously giving the world what it wanted, which was good music. I respect Bob Marley for that—he was a trailblazer. Bob was a vegetarian and I eat meat, so I’d have to serve fish and/or vegetables for dinner. I believe we’d have a great conversation. I would invite Ronnie Butler because I’d want to discuss his music and learn about his creative process over peas soup and dumpling! Peas soup and dumpling is one of my favorite dishes and Ronnie knew how to cook it. So, we would cook soup while we listened to his music, and I would pick his brain and find out the backstory behind some of his most popular songs. UA
april 2020
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