Jonathan Greenland, Contributor
Campbell
CHARLES CAMPBELL is a Jamaican artist living and working in Victoria, Canada. His piece 'Meditation Rack' is on display in the exhibition Perpetual Symmetry at the Mutual Gallery.
Here he discusses his work with Dr. Jonathan Greenland, Executive Director of the National Gallery of Jamaica.
Jonathan Greenland: What's going on in your piece 'Meditation Rack'?
Charles Campbell: Meditation Rack evolved from an historical drawing depicting the punishment of an escaped slave. In the painting I've repeated this image numerous times, reflecting and rotating it to create an intricate pattern on the canvas. Sometimes when you look at the painting you see the pattern first; at other times the figures jump out at you.
What interested me in the image of the slave being punished was that a fellow slave was commissioned to do the punishing. It spoke to me of how those most disadvantaged by the injustices of a system are often called upon to perpetuate them. In turning this into a pattern I was both looking at how the atrocities of our past are embedded in the fabric of our society and trying to find a way to go beyond the 'violence begets violence' model that seems to dominate aspects of Jamaica. More than anything I am
interested in making beautiful objects. It is a way of liberating the past; getting off the 'natural' trajectory that leads from slavery towards destruction. At any moment we can say that the past has brought me here, but I can choose where I now want to go.
JG: What is your greatest artistic influence and why?
CC: I am enthralled by the work of the British painter Chris Ofili and Black American conceptual artist Adrian Piper. Ofili's paintings are so lush, beautiful, dense and engaging. He magnifies and dissects the myths of Black culture and throws them back at the viewer, elephant dung and all. There is an interesting disjuncture between the completed paintings and the bits of collage he uses to build up the final images, like in his 'Holy Virgin' where he uses cuttings from black porno mags at the background of a painting of a black Virgin Mary. Piper's early work was important in developing a political consciousness in my work. Her 'Mythic Being' series, where she placed diary entries next to an image of herself dressed as a stereotypical black American man, is illustrative of how our understanding is often based on our presumptions and prejudices.
JG: I am a great admirer of Chris Ofili and it seems to me you and him have something in common: if people hear about your work and the subjects they think it will be hard to look at, depressing or heavy, but you are both painters of great beauty. Is there a deliberate or charged contrast between the cleanness of your painting and the subject?
CC: Yes. I look at it in a couple of ways: We cannot deny the more negative aspects of our culture and personal experience but to make something ugly out of ugly experience doesn't get us anywhere. We need to transform these experiences into an understanding, an understanding that allows us to create beautiful things even out of negative things.
JG: What do you think of the Jamaican art scene?
CC: There are some great artists in Jamaica, but there is always a question of how well they are supported. I suppose in difficult economic times art might seem like a luxury, but we have to pay attention to where we are going as a culture as well as put food on the table. The art scene in Jamaica is a microcosm of Jamaican society, with all its plusses and all its problems - but fortunately a few less guns.
JG: Do you have any
suggestions for how to <
support the artists better?
CC: I have a wish for patronage that takes a longer term view and is more adventurous. Collectors tend to be conservative; they don't take many risks. We also need to support the intellectual climate. There needs to be healthy debate and frank discussion for artists to engage in. We need public, open discussion about the relevance of art and artists to Jamaican society.
JG: What has been your greatest moment of artistic achievement?
CC: It is difficult to be objective about this. I find that the last piece I do always sits largest in my mind. In this show that piece is Maroon Meditation where I have treated an image of a Maroon warrior in a similar
fashion to the slaves in 'Meditation Rack'. The piece still holds a lot of mystery for me. Both the image and the symmetry of the pattern are less obvious. There are a few other pieces when I look back that exemplify a period in my work or a culmination of a process. They mark my path.
JG: What are your favourite materials?
CC: I am an oil painter. The smell of the paint, all its material qualities, how it changes over time ... I love it. At various times I've worked in other mediums, video, performance, audio installations, but these are departures for me. I always come back to oil painting. For the paintings in my current show I've glued a layer of tracing paper to the canvas with hide glue. This both protects the canvas and produces a slick service, with just a bit of the 'tooth' of the canvas. The paint seems to float above the canvas ...
JG: What is your favourite work of Jamaican art?
CC: I'm a big fan of Leonard Daley. There is remarkable honesty and insight in his work. 'The Pickpocket' is one of my favourites. If you ever have the good fortune to spend time in Leonard's company he has a way of letting you see the divine spark at the root of everything and in all of us. He is a remarkable man.
JG: Where is your favourite place in Jamaica? (or it could be elsewhere)
CC: There are a lot of places in Jamaica that are special to me, but my favourite is probably in the mountains around Newcastle. The air is different up there. If I spend the night up there I dream the most intense dreams...
JG: Matisse or Picasso?
CC: Both. Matisse for his lyrical beauty, Picasso for his intellectual weight and constant innovation.
JG: If you were stuck on a desert island what work of art would you wish to have with you?
CC: The one that comes to mind is a painting by Mark Rothko. His paintings soothe your soul. That might be a consolation on a desert island. I suppose it comes back to beauty again. But his paintings are also a kind of nothing, a beautiful nothing.
JG: Cats or dogs?
CC: My wife got me a dog a couple of years ago, and last year I got her two cats. In both instances the giving was as good as the receiving.
JG: Where do you see your work in five years (or less)?
CC: I always have to focus on the present with my work. That way it plots a more honest course. For the moment I'm interested in working with the tension that emerges out of the use of chaotic and violent images placed in controlled and repetitive patterns. I think of it as playing with different ways we see and understand the world. The eye is forever picking up patterns and the mind is always looking for significance and meaning.
As far as my career goes I am getting some recognition from critics and collectors here and abroad. Hopefully this will continue. I've dedicated myself to my artwork, but still have to put food on the table.
Charles Campbell is one of the participating artists in the exhibition Curator's Eye II at the National Gallery of Jamaica, opening December 11. Please contact the Gallery at 922 1561 for more
information or email us at
natgalja@cwjamaica.com."
