Redemption Songs:
The Self-Taught Artists of Jamaica

May 3 - June 5, 2002

The works of the 17 self-taught Jamaican artists in this exhibition bespeak an art of stories, rituals and issues of national identity. Deeply individualistic, these paintings, carvings, ceramics and hand-made musical instruments are nevertheless rooted in the complex spirituality of the island, with its living mix of Rastafarian, Revival and Kumina religious traditions.

Like self-taught artists throughout the Caribbean and the American South, the artists as a group reflect the spiritual longings of the Aftican Diaspora. Their common yearning is for Zion, for reconciliation with remote ancestors, for healing and redemption from the chaos and terrors of the Babylon in which they find themselves. This is an art of resistance as well as affirmation - resistance to colonial and slave traditions, affirmation of the deepest wellsprings of human resilience and spirit.

The stories and images of the artists presented here, mainly from the collection of Wayne and Myrene Cox, are part of an oral tradition and frequently an extension of that tradition. Paintings by Sylvester Woods and Evadney Cruickshank chronicle daily life in Jamaica - the market, weddings, festivals, sometimes presented in Biblical garb. But there is also a secret or occult element at work here, glimpsed in the paintings of Errol McKenzie and the carvings and canvases of Everald Brown. In almost every case, these works of art are more than simple aesthetic creations - they have a function, spiritual or pedagogic. For artists such as Ras Dizzy, Leonard Daley, and Errol McKenzie the art they create is part of their ongoing discourse with the universe. It teaches the community; it preserves cultural memory.

Curated by Randall Morris, this show was originally organized by the Diggs Gallery at Winston - Salem State University in North Carolina. Several of the artists in this exhibition were also included in the groundbreaking 1979 exhibition at the National Gallery of Jamaica. These figures, including Albert Artwell, William "Woody," Joseph and Doc Williamson, today are considered part of the "first generation" of Jamaican artists. In this show, the work of more contemporary artists such as Sylvester Woods, Reginald English and Zacchaeus Powell appears alongside that of older artists.

Redemption Songs: The Self-Taught Artists of Jamaica will be at the Mishkin Gallery from Friday, May 3 - Wednesday, June 5.

The Sidney Mishkin Gallery is located at Baruch College, 135 East 22 Street, New York City.
Gallery hours are:
Monday-Friday, 12 noon-5 p.m.
Thursdays, 12 noon-7 p.m.
All exhibitions at the gallery are free and open to the public.

© 2002 Sidney Mishkin Gallery, Baruch College

Zane Berzins (news office)
(212) 802-2881
zberzins@newton.baruch.cuny.edu