The prestigious Gleaner Honour Award will be presented next week. Today we continue profiles of category winners. Dr. David Boxer is the winner in the arts and culture category.
DR. DAVID Wayne Boxer's interest in art was piqued at an early age, and has continued over the years as he pursues a combined career as an artist, art historian, lecturer, and Director Emeritus/Chief Curator of the National Gallery of Jamaica.
For him, art is a continuous journey, and each work, an act of self-discovery. It is this dynamic view that has helped to shape his career over 30 years, during which he has played an important role in the development of Jamaican art and culture.
His efforts have increased the national and international visibility of Jamaican art through a programme of exhibitions, acquisitions, publications and educational activities.
Born in March 1946 in St. Andrew, Dr. Boxer started his education at Calabar High School in St. Andrew, where, in 1957, he was one of 1,400 children who entered grant-aided secondary school free of all tuition through the first Common Entrance Examination.
He then attended Jamaica College (1958-1964), and later won a scholarship to Cornell University (1965-1969) in New York, USA, where he majored in art history.
Awarded a Gilman scholarship in 1970 to the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Mary-land, Dr. Boxer successfully completed studies for a Master's degree (1973) and a Doctorate (1975) in art history.
A stint as a producer/director at the now-defunct Jamaica Broad-casting Corporation (JBC) preceded his art teaching career which saw him lecturing at the Johns Hopkins University (1971), the University of Maryland, and Morgan State College in Maryland.
Between 1974 and 1975, he took up a full-time appointment as Assistant Professor at the George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, where he taught 19th century European Art, 20th century European and American Art and a survey of Western Art. In 1975, he was appointed Director/Curator at the National Gallery of Jamaica in downtown Kingston.
In his current role as Director Emeritus/Chief Curator at the National Gallery, Dr. Boxer has responsibility for the acquisition of works for the national collection of fine arts, the maintenance and display of the national collection at the gallery itself, in state residences, and at Jamaican embassies and high commissions abroad.
He oversees day-to-day activities at the gallery with a full-time staff of 15-20 persons and is also responsible for organising special exhibitions sponsored by the gallery and the publication of accompanying catalogues.
Dr. Boxer has lent his familiarity and expertise to various adjudication panels including the Annual National Exhibition organised by the National Gallery (now replaced by the Biennial National Exhibition), the Institute of Jamaica's Art in Schools exhibition, Jamaica Festival Photography exhibition (1976-1977), the Jamaica School of Art painting jury, the Barbados Fine Arts Exhibition (1986) and Biennial of Caribbean and Central American Painting in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (1994).
He has lectured widely to schools and associations on art, photography and cinematography, and has opened several exhibitions and appeared on many radio and television discussion programmes in Jamaica, the United Kingdom and the U.S.
He continues to serve on various boards and committees, including the National Gallery, the Council of the Institute of Jamaica, the Edna Manley Foundation, the Foundation for the Arts, and the National Arboretum Foundation. He is also a Justice of the Peace (Kingston).
Over the years, he has authored numerous articles, special papers, catalogues, and books, including the valuable and acclaimed Edna Manley: Sculptor (1990) and Modern Jamaican Art (1997) with Veerle Poupeye.
As an artist, collage, assemblage, and installation art are Dr. Boxer's forté. He was the first Jamaican artist to venture systematically into this art form, and he has greatly influenced younger artists with similar interests.
Writing in Modern Jamaican Art, Veerle Poupeye describes Dr. Boxer's work: "(It) relies heavily on the manipulation of ready-made images, objects and iconography that are appropriated from a variety of cultural sources. This can be attributed to his background as an art historian. While his paintings are usually more personal and introspective, his collages, assemblages and installations have allowed him to develop his themes into complex, multi-layered allegories. The narrative emphasis of these works is reinforced by his use of sequential multi-panel formats, which remind of his experience in film-making."
His works can be found in many local public and private collections, as well as in the Caribbean, Venezuela, the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Holland, and Cuba. He is represented in the National Gallery of Jamaica, the Museum of the Arts of the Americas in Washington, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Stedelijkin Museum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Solo exhibitions by the artist include his first at the Bolivar Gallery (1970), and others at the Institute of Jamaica (1973), Museum of Modern Art of Latin America, Washington (1979) Frame Centre Gallery (1984) and, in recent times, at his studio and home in Kingston. He has also exhibited in many group shows at home and in Mexico, Venezuela, Haiti, Dominican Republic, the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and France.
During his distinguished career, Dr. Boxer has received several major awards for excellence in art, including the First Prize (Silver Medal) at the Jamaica Annual Festival of Arts (1969), the Centenary Medal from the Institute of Jamaica (1980), the Gold Medal at the Biennial of Caribbean and Central American Painting, Santo Domingo (1992), and the Gold Musgrave Medal from the Institute of Jamaica (1995).
For significant contribution to the development of Jamaican art, he was awarded the National Honour of the Commander of the Order of Distinction (C.D.) by the Government of Jamaica in 1991.
Today, Dr. Boxer continues to actively promote the development of Jamaican art, sharing his expertise and knowledge, where necessary. His hobbies include music and cultural history, and among his favourite artists are Francis Bacon, Pablo Picasso, Michelangelo, Cezanne and Degas.
