Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer
Edward Seaga, Fellow of the Institue of Jamaica and guest speaker, photographs a piece by Laura Facey at the opening of the biennial exhibition at the National Gallery, last week Sunday.

Chester Francis-Jackson, Contributor

Whoever coined the phrase: 'You can't be all things to all people', never attended the National Gallery of Jamaica Biennial Exhibition. If they ever did, they would realise that in the world of art this is not only a possibility, it comes alive in a kaleidoscope of conflicting, but complementary imagery; contrasting colours, styles, themes, subjects and personalities. In the end, they make for one grand mosaic of rich cultural tapestry spanning and embracing cultures, time, space, the elements and more importantly - provides a graphic visual essay of the aspirations, struggles and fears of a pre and post colonial Jamaica.

In this respect, the National Gallery of Jamaica has not only come of age, it has, as fine wine, matured nicely into a venerable elixir!

Naysayers

Though the naysayers would have you in doubt, Jamaica, in its 44 years of independence, has lots for which its people can be justly proud, by way of institutions. Our forefathers did due diligence as they set about the establishment of institutions that would serve not just their generation, but generations to come. If these institutions continued to receive the nurturing and national sustenance they deserve, ours will not just be an intransigent moment, but a time and people of great contribution.

One such institution is the venerable National Gallery of Jamaica.

Here's an institution that has served this nation, and served us well. It has catalogued our art and artists great and small, not just to record for posterity, but for contemporary consumption, the development and processes that accompanied our journey along this path!

The Jamaican art scene has remained positively vibrant as there are those (intuitive), who sought nor required approval of the establishment class and so ignored the pronouncements of the would be arbiters and went on to express themselves in their own "primitive" styles and in the process, not only thrived, but went on to gain national and international recognition.

And so enter the National Gallery of Jamaica, the political big tent of the Jamaican art movement, in that it seeks and continues to harness, highlight and promote art, as against the notion of being sole and debilitating arbiter.

In recent years, the Gallery has been positively reinforced with the appointment of Dr. Jonathan Greenland as its executive director, who is working with curator emeritus and artist extraordinaire, Dr. David Boxer. Both have not only revived its fortunes, but have made of it an accessible national treasure, available to all. Through a series of outreach exhibitions and programmes that in and by themselves have created a renaissance of sort in the Jamaican art community. They have generated spirited interest by the wider community in its work.

Well my daahlings, last Sunday, the National Gallery hosted yet another in its biennial series, and with a roster of near 100 hundred artists, y'all know that a rare and fabulous fare of contemporary and not so contemporary art work would be on display for the art loving public.

A fine fare

And, if a fine fare of art work was never going to be enough, The Most Hon. Edward Seaga was the booked guest speaker, and to the mind of this here scribe, the pairing of Edward Seaga, with the National Gallery's Biennial 2006 showpiece, was a master stroke. With Mr. Seaga's history and linkages to the cultural and art movement here, this was a most opportune pairing.

Luvs, it was all that an avid art lover could hope for; it was a social-profiler's heaven; and above all else - a flawless treat! Honeys, we are talking a most extensive and diverse compendium of Jamaican art here, and harnessed and so masterfully presented, it represented a truly warm exhibition as against one that had pockets of brilliance, and pockets that were jarring not only on the nerves, but also on the sensibilities!

Honeys, it was that kind of an outing - a masterpiece, in every way. We are talking one finely mounted exhibition, boasting some of the finest contemporary artists, and not to put too fine a distinction to it, but the Caribbean's leading art denizens, arbiters, lovers and aficionados, all a milling and musing around.

Luvs, to single out any artist here, would be indeed, to do an injustice to the exhibition as a whole as there was an august body of attendees.

Among those out were: National Gallery's Curator, Dr. David Boxer; its Executive Director Dr. Jonathan Greenland and wife Dr. Rebecca Tortello-Greenland and their son; The Most Hon. Mrs. Carla Seaga and daughter Gabrielle Seaga; The Most. Hon. Glynne Manley; the lovely and always supremely elegant Mitzi Seaga; Ambassador The Hon. Dudley Thompson; The Hon. Maurice and Valerie Facey, their talented daughter the lovely Laura Facey, and her sibling Stephen Facey; Alex Hamilton and the elegant Erica Downer; Ray Miles Sr. squiring his daughter-in-law, the fabulous Eva Miles; the lovely Jennifer Lim; Maurice Stoppi, his offsprings Anna and Paul Stoppi; Mrs. P.J. Stewart; the esteemed Pat Ramsey; Jag Mehta; Sue MacManus; Vivian Crawford; the charming Annabella Proudlock; art collector extraordinaire Wallace Campbell; Sheila Graham; Norman Rae; Dr. Grace Haynes, her daughter, former Miss Jamaica World Andrea Haynes and hubby; Dr. Elisabeth Ward; William Tavares-Finson; Mrs. Elaine Delfosse and her daughter Betty Delfosse-Ingleton.

Also in attendance were: businessman Wayne Chen and wife Dr. Diana Thorburn-Chen and their baby daughter Isabel; Felicity Croswell-Brandt and Nicola Croswell-Mair; William and Rosie Thwaites; Douglas Reid of Grosvenor Gallery; Amber Vicens-Stewart and beau Roger Malik; Jimmy Josephs; Phillip Supersad; Amy Laskin; UNICEF's Bertrand Bainvel; Virginia Burke; Andrew Phillips; Thania Nethersole; Mrs. Hope Brooks; Mrs. Catherine Handa: Ashleigh Rousseau; Errol Lee; sisters Seya Parboosingh; Sonia Jones; Cecil Cooper; Viv Logan; Graham Davies; Norma Rodney-Harrack; Gilou Bauer; Gene Pearson, his 'estranged' wife Jacquelyn Hussey-Pearson also out; Stafford Schlyffer; Sandra Griffiths; Anthony Miller; Donette Zacca; and the lovely Francesca De Maja, from Malta; plus several scores more. But what a fabulous morning!