"...and I resumed the struggle" e-Catalogue (2024)
The Olympia Gallery c/o The Art Centre Ltd.
202 Old Hope Road, Kingston 6, P.O. Box 260
Jamaica, W.I.
Phone: (876)927-1608
Email:artcentregallery.ja@gmail.c om
Website: https://www.theolympiagallery.co m
Any Reproduction of this Document in part or in whole is strictly prohibited.
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The Olympia Gallery and The Art Centre Ltd. owns or has obtained permission from the owner/ artist to use all of these materials.
Copyrightable materials include documents such as papers, articles, multimedia, and other works of authorship. Copyright is a property right in an original work of authorship. It is a legal protection for the expression of an idea, not the idea itself.
“
...AND I RESUMED THE STRUGGLE” (DEC 2024)
ARTISTSTATEMENT
Greg Bailey was born 1986 in Warsop, Trelawny. He earned his BFA from the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in 2010, where he now lectures, and an MFA from the Washington University in St. Louis, Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts in 2019. His Jamaican exhibitions include: Post-Colonial Paraphernalia, his debut solo exhibition; Young Talent 2015, the 2012 National Biennial, the Jamaica Biennial 2014 and 2017, and the Kingston Biennial 2022, at the National Gallery of Jamaica; as well as the “And I Resume the Struggle” exhibition series at the Olympia Art Gallery. He has also exhibited in London, England, the United States, and Stuttgart, Germany.
ARTISTSTATEMENT
These paintings enable me to explore, document and investigate portraiture as a subject within my cultural atmosphere. I have always had strong concerns about traditional racial expressions and the imbalance of beauty within colonial communities. It is of great relevance that each person respectfully affirms their presence within a culture of their own. The aesthetics of physical appearance plays an important role in identity and that is why I, personally, choose my subject matter and placement thereof, with careful consideration. These placements gently associate affirmation with significance.
JOHNCAMPBELL
ARTISTSTATEMENT
John Alexander Campbell was born on the 27th of May 1972 in Kingston, Jamaica. His artistic career commenced after high school when he worked for a newly formed airbrush t-shirt company Iya and subsequently Yabba Air. In 1992 he attended the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts where he majored in Painting and minored in Printmaking. In 1996 he spent 18 months as the Artist in residence at the AvantGarde Gallery in Portland. John states that his works depict varying aspects of life and all its passions, the good the bad and the indifferent from a very personal perspective.
JOHN CAMPBELL
“History of Space and Time (1, 2 & 3)”, 2024
Digital Collage of the artist’s paintings printed on paper 20 x 20 inches
In my works I utilize drawing, painting, collage and installation to explore ideas around race and post-colonial identity. I work with everyday materials such as plastic bags, cement and concrete blocks as surfaces to be manipulated, or as stand alone objects that retain cultural significance. A recurrent theme in my work is construction, destruction and temporality. Even within my drawings and cement objects, there is an aspect of decay that is evoked. I seek to uncover and recover aspects of a lost identity through this process.
“While Picking Wild Flowers”, 2024
Charcoal on paper
82 x 84 inches
$6750
ARTISTSTATEMENT
Katrina Coombs is a fiber artist born in Kingston, Jamaica. Her practice focuses on the Other and the “I”, through the role and existence of the woman. She engages fiber as a story teller speaking to the tails of women and their relation to their body and ancestry. Coombs holds a MFA in Creative Practice from Transart Institute via The University of Plymouth (2013) and has been featured in numerous exhibitions internationally. Of special note is her solo exhibitions Just Breathe at CreativSpace, Jamaica and I M(O)ther: Threads of the Maternal Figure at the Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling Collage, USA
“Chalice:
Crochet and Knitted Mulberry Silk, Cotton, Merino and Alpaca Fibers with Beaded Cowrie Shells and Calabash
5.5 x 28 x 28 inches
$3,500 (USD)
ARTISTSTATEMENT
The work entitled ‘FRAGMENTS OF THE COLONIAL EXPERIENCE’ is part of a larger work centered around colonial narratives. It addresses the passage of time, the significance of memory, and the body as an archive. This mixed media work embodies the coalescing of different aspects of the region’s colonial history, and its representation. The impact of symbolism and the merger of ideas, that consider the materiality of the appropriated image. Likewise the implied significance of some of the materials used as content in its creation. How these individual choices aid in the overall articulation of the works narrative function.
“Fragments of the Colonial Experience”, 2022
Mixed Media
Three fragments of variable dimensions; displayed under glass : 15 ½” x 11” x 7”
Not for Sale
ARTISTSTATEMENT
This body of work is a psychological exploration of what it means to be YOU. It is somewhat autobiographical, a response to lifepeople, relationships and interactions. These interactions can take a toll on one's mind and body. The fragile, ephemeral nature of the work is indicative of the precarious ways in which the body sometimes loses critical mass in its response to the weightiness of certain experiences. What is most important is that the work reflects the moment when one becomes most available to oneself. This is the interstitial moment where one takes note of the positive and negative impacts of life's instances which would have been otherwise ignored through physical movement.
“Still I Rise (2/5)”, 2024
(Top)
Acrylic on canvas
3 ft 8.5 inches by 21 ft 5 in
“Still I Rise (3/5)”, 2024
(Bottom)
Acrylic on canvas
3 ft 2.5 inches by 21 ft 3 in
$2,500 (USD) each.
ARTISTSTATEMENT SHEDIENEFLETCHER
I find myself doing portraits time and time again, maybe it’s the exploration of self or the uncertainty I feel towards the people around me. Portraits are a natural way for me to process and express these complex feelings. I am not just capturing faces, I am exploring identity, connection and the dynamics of trust and perception. I feel like portraits are a part of my journey, the language for expressing my thoughts and emotions. Examining not just the external appearance of people, but the internal emotions of myself and those I observe.
Mixed media on goat skin
23.5 x 47.5 inches
$3,500 (USD) “Deeply Admired”, 2024
TAJFRANCIS
ARTISTSTATEMENT
Over the past ten years, Taj Francis has blazed a trail within the local and international contemporary visual art scene, distinguishing himself through his remarkable and unmistakable visual style. He has applied his mastery across various artistic endeavours including murals, animation, illustrations, motion graphics, and providing artistic direction and graphic design for a diverse clientele. Notable clients include HBO, Universal Studios, Simon and Schuster Publishing, Samsung, Heineken, PURE Chocolate Jamaica and recording artiste, Protoje.
“Sleep Envy I”, 2024
Acrylic on canvas
24 inches in diameter
$2,200 (USD)
Acrylic on Linen Paper 23 x 31 inches $2,500 “5th Vessel”, 2019
ARTISTSTATEMENT
My use of collage is inspired by the medium's alignment with drastic change in the artworld, especially during a socially and politically turbulent time in the world . The idea of collage being used to oppose traditional art making was significant as it aligned with my themes of resistance to oppressive power systems. Using collage, I aim to create characters, whether fantastical or steeped in reality. These characters function as a symbol of opposition to institutional violence, disproportionately affecting black minorities on the island as well as the wider Caribbean.
2024
Wire, egg tray, sure-cote, white glue, fishing line, paint, plastic bags. $400 for pair / 350 single (USD)
DANIELHARRISON
ARTISTSTATEMENT
My use of collage is inspired by the medium's alignment with drastic change in the artworld, especially during a socially and politically turbulent time in the world . The idea of collage being used to oppose traditional art making was significant as it aligned with my themes of resistance to oppressive power systems. Using collage, I aim to create characters, whether fantastical or steeped in reality. These characters function as a symbol of opposition to institutional violence, disproportionately affecting black minorities on the island as well as the wider Caribbean.
“Nation Builder”, 2023
Printmaking; collage
43.5 x 42 inches
$2275 (USD)
PRUDENCELOVELL
ARTISTSTATEMENT
Prudence Lovell is a British immigrant to Jamaica and has for decades lived and worked in Kingston maintaining a quiet practice centred mainly around drawing and collage. In recent years, exhibiting has been largely confined to the National Gallery of Jamaica’s National Exhibitions and Biennales, Edna Manley College’s Faculty exhibitions and conferences and NLS [New Local Space]. Notable among these exhibitions was the group show entitled ‘Insides’ at NLS and ‘Explorations 3: Seven Women Artists’ exhibition at the National Gallery in 2015.
Scavenged wood, Aluminium Tape, Collage. Printed Text. Variable dimensions Not for Sale
ARTISTSTATEMENT
Petrona Morrison (b. 1954, Manchester, Jamaica) is a multi-media artist whose work engages deeply personal, as well as sociopolitical concerns through assemblages and installations, and more recently digital photography and video. Themes of fragility, survival and resilience reoccur in her practice. Morrison holds a BA (Fine Arts) from McMaster University, Ontario, Canada (1976) and an MFA from Howard University, Washington, D.C. (1986). Her work has been exhibited extensively locally and internationally, including the Sixth Havana Biennial, Cuba; the; and in group shows in Martinique, London, South Africa, USA, Canada and Spain.
Digital collage 50 x 48 inches
$3,500 (USD)
ARTISTSTATEMENT
Dependent on the attendant issues involved (political, sociocultural, HIStorical, etc.), my works can be either figurative or non-figurative but never abstract…so far. Nevertheless they are all unified in their determined conspiracy to address the Black condition, i.e. the life, past/present/future, of people of African ancestry and their (re)presentation. Yet my vision is not merely celebratory (sentimental) nor specular but is most often an incisive critique revealing discomforting but urgent truths. As such my primary concern is with the (de)colonization of the Black being and by extension, the Black body. Therefore, for me, creative action bears an instrumentalist mandate whose imperative thrust is the process of weaponizing aesthetics in the service of truth.
“Hot seat for the P.M., to be used for enquiries into state capture and collusion of the corporate media re capitulation of responsible journalism”, 2020-2024
Refurbished high school chair, Roshan hotplate, digital prints, spray paints, fabricators: Welli Welding 21 × 15 ¾ × 33 ¼ inches
$2500 (USD)
ARTISTSTATEMENT
My most recent work was launched in 2021 as my final year project in college. It was divided into two parts entitled Conflicts of Perception (1 & 2). Identity was the general topic, however, after conducting extensive research I realised that there were several subtopics that needed to be taken into consideration when discussing the topic of identity. As such, I decided to focus on selfperception and how we are perceived in society. To adequately portray the importance of identity and perception in a less traditional sense, I used the art of self-portraiture.
“Conflicts of Perception part 2”, 2020
Photograph 36 x 48 inches
$600 (USD)
ARTISTSTATEMENT
Everything I create is an attempt to challenge commonly accepted views of Jamaican aesthetics as they are known. I seek to construct unreal glimpses into parts of our culture that we collectively fear and ignore. I paint disfigured figures that talk and act like people, that parody Blackness and Caribbeaness as it has been taught instead of how it truly is. Just like monsters in the woodland we fear because of stories we’ve been told but who we’ve never actually met. By exploring intersectionalities between spirituality, art and nature I give form to surreal dream parodies of the lived experiences of Caribbean people both past, present (and future). I seek to question why we hold the views we do about Afro-Caribbeanness and about “monsters”.
SONN NGAI
Printmaking; collage
96 x 40 inches
$850 (USD)
NGAI
A I R T S
acrylic, found/handmade objects and potted plant on canvas
23 x 17.5 inches
$600 (USD)
The (don) Hierophant - collage, oil, oil stick and handmade objects on hardboard
23 x 20 inches
$600 (USD)
ARTISTSTATEMENT
Phillip Thomas is considered a realist and he paints with an ease that demonstrates his sure draftsmanship and understanding of the human form. Yet there is more to his artistry than just representation. He harnesses the classical approach of the European masters to cloth and critique his contemporary black subjects. The result is portraits that are appealing because of their conventions and familiarity but also repulsive because of their perverse contradictory content. Phillip intends to manufacture cultural reliquaries, artifacts and social curiosities that represent the cultural tapestry of the Caribbean and the wider “new world”, using mediums and other agents of the old world.
