'Fragments of Time III' Exhibition Catalogue / Bryan McFarlane

This exhibition showcases the selected works which were done over a period of three decades, after travelling and being a resident artist in the following countries: Senegal and Ghana of Africa, Brazil and Columbia of South America, Spain and France of Europe, Istanbul -Turkey of West Asia, East Asia-Japan and Beijing, China and north America-Boston. These are concepts I continue to work on in my Beijing and Boston studios.

Bryan McFarlane

Fragments of Time III

Olympia Gallery

Kingston, Jamaica

February 15-April 13, 2024

Dear Bryan:

Congratulations to you on the opening of Fragments of Time III, the most recent iteration of your probing exploration of this theme over recent years. I and my wife Sandra wish we could have joined you, your family and associates for this occasion of joy and celebration.

Having followed your career for more than four decades, I know you as a gifted artist, teacher and visionary personality of international statue. Your art has been presented in prestigious museums and art galleries throughout Asia, Europe, Africa, South and North America always to wide acclaim. Featured in the 2008 Beijing Olympic exhibition, you have secured your place in contemporary visual arts globally. You have established a high benchmark for Caribbean and African-descent artists everywhere. And you are well-respected in all sectors of the Boston arts community which has been one of your homes for many years.

Beyond your practice as an artist, you have been a dedicated teacher guiding, tutoring and mentoring generations of art students from all backgrounds and all levels of accomplishment at universities, museums and art centers worldwide. You have sought to create learning opportunities for scholars and students of art and art education from the Caribbean to China to North America and beyond. You have taught us how to vanquish the last remnants of colonialism by affirming the vitality and energy released by hard work and self-knowledge propelled by creative daring.

Through charm and generosity, you have proven to be a splendid friend filled with caring and compassion. Love of your country and of your family have anchored you and revealed your deep humanity—a humanity that enlivens and animates your watercolors and paintings.

Without having seen this newest corpus of your work, I still know that it grows out of careful exploration of intriguing themes born out of the intersection of the East and the West, of the African, European, American, and out of the old and the new silk roads as played out in your imagination where colors live amid echoes of figuration and representation. You have earned recognition as a significant contemporary visual artist elevating the place of Caribbean and African-descent production within the international artistic environment. You have joined the constellation of Jamaican greats such as Albert Huie, Barrington Watson, and so many others who constitute the foundation of a magnificent national tradition. To that foundation, you are now adding your own stellar contributions. How gratifying it is to see your genius honored in one of the spaces of your artistic birth.

Bryan, Qian and young Joseph, please savor the delights of this opening day. I wish I could be with you there in Kingston!

Edmund Barry Gaither Executive Director and Curator

Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists

Boston, Massachusetts

February 15, 2024

BRAZILIAN / WEST AFRICAN / TURKISH SERIES

I went to Brazil during my tenure at the College of The Holy Cross in summer of 1987 and Africa for the first time in summer of 1988, then back to Brazil in 1989 and 1990. Turkey: summer of 1993 at the beginning of my tenure at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, and then Africa again in 2001 subsequently.

- Bryan McFarlane

22x22in

Acrylic & Mixed Media on Paper

1994

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1. Muslim Women at the Window

36.5x36.5in framed

Bryan McFarlane: Fragments of Time III, Olympia Gallery, Kingston,

2. Shrine, from Turkish Series

3.

Sense of Place III, from

36. Untitled from Turkish Series

37. Interior of Mystery, from Turkish Series

4.

Objects V, from West African Series

CHINA / BICYCLE / SILK ROAD / JOURNEY SERIES

I took the opportunity to create a series of work entitled: ‘Bicyclical Journeys’ in Beijing which grew out of Egg Series.

The series of paintings which were completed around 2010, underscores my deep feelings and respect for China’s history of the Silk Road and its untold stories and mysteries.

Chinese explorers also travelled under “colorful orbs that… represented the stars that guided navigation and helped light the way” (Barry Gaither), before high sky-scrapers invaded its local landscape environment. Hence my depiction of deep blue skies, the stars and planetary bodies. I continue to work on a series deeply rooted in this fascinating concept based on the Silk Road and the dying aspects of this culture and those aspects of it that will soon be no more. Speed with which the changing commerce, culture and an art world that is emerging in the context of the 21st Century.

96.5x60in

Oil on Linen

2007

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245x152cm

7. Beijing Bicycle Burden (Diptych)

5.

6.

CHINA / BICYCLE / SILK ROAD / JOURNEY SERIES

The large socio-cultural and economically intertwined developments taking place worldwide. The social media highway. I have spent time in both Xi’an and Turkey painting, which characterize both ends of the “Silk Road”. The ancient trade and cultural link between East and West, before the era of bicycles, airplanes, electronic communications or current cutting-edge technologies. The Silk Road now leads to the building of new Pyramids and highways. My own Silk Road has taken me into the Pyramids of China.

- Bryan McFarlane

81x68.5in

Oil on Linen

2016

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206x174cm

8. Bicycle Factory in the Red Zone, from Silk Road Series

Bryan McFarlane: Fragments of Time III, Olympia Gallery, Kingston, Jamaica,February

9. Silk Road with Yin and Yang

11. Wheel in a Wheel

CHINA / BICYCLE / SILK ROAD / JOURNEY SERIES

Stop And Go Series, Oil On Paper, 2018

Left To Right - Prices Below

12. Stop And Go Series I, 15x11.5in, 38x29cm - Sold

13. Stop And Go Series III, 15x11.5in, 38x29cm

14. Stop And Go Series VI, 15x11.5in, 38x29cm

15. Stop And Go Series IX, 15x11.5in, 8x58.5cm

12-15 Stop and Go Series

Oil on Paper

2018

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Oil on Linen

2013

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16. Catfish in the Sky

CHINA

Oil

17. The Red Sea II

18. Fish Caught

71x59in

81 1/4 x 137in 206x348cm

Oil on Linen

2023

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20. Urban Rain (Diptych)

87x63in

Oil on Linen

2010

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220x160cm

21. Red, Green and Gold with Grail - on the Otherside

22.

23.

Watercolor on Rag Paper

2023

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24. Gunner, (Parental Consent Panel I)

Bryan

47x45in

119x114cm

2023

48x23in 122x58cm

Watercolor on Paper

2023

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27. Love Poem (Parental Consent Panel IV)

Watercolor on Paper

2023

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26. Blue Mountain (Parental Consent Panel III)

29.

- Olympia's

Bryan

Oil on Linen

2023

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31. Playground with Shallow Moon (Diptych)

86.5x63in 220x160cm

Oil on Linen

2016-2023

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35. The Big Dim Sum I, from Dim Sum Series

71x59in 180x150cm

Oil on Linen

2019-2023

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34. Portal VI - Entry for