Photo by Roger Robinson
(1) 'Passion' by David Joseph Marchand.
Photos by Anthea McGibbon
(2) Marchand's 'Clown' - ridiculing mindless politicians.
(3) Almost a miniature image of neighbour Christopher Gonzalez, Marchand stands behind his study of Jamaican women.

Anthea McGibbon, Gleaner Writer

FROM SMOKING weed to being in a gang, and to jail at least 50 times between the United States (U.S.) and Jamaica, David Joseph Marchand says he has always been outright rebellious at the establishment of any authority.

Now over 50 years of age, a glimpse at reality is steering Marchand on the road to repentance, where he literally drives himself to produce nothing but art, in his once-neglected Runaway Bay beach house. This, for him, is a step towards rising from "the struggling artist" he says he is.

It could be sheer luck or a spark of genius, but this rebel who has never been without opportunities has already shown work in the National Gallery, despite his brief flirtations with his artistic skills.

Hailing from Old Harbour, Marchand is the son of a Belizean (former British Honduras) father and a Jamaican mom. His mother he remembers had "tremendous talent" and attended classes with Edna Manley during the 1930s. But Marchand's initial encounter with art began with his first finger-painting set given by his father.

Growing up, he attended William Knibb High School and later Jamaica College before migrating to the U.S. His art education was brief - a rebel at heart, he found himself roaming from school to school, voluntarily or due to expulsion. The unsettled artist who immaturely left a scholarship-sponsored course at William Howard Taff University, U.S.A., says he only did two classes totalling three hours at the Edna Manley College in 1960.

Toots own horn

Never married and having fathered no children, David quickly boasts about having met Bustamante while at William Knibb. In fact, for willing ears, he toots his own horn claiming relations to 14th century ivory sculptor David Le Marchand.

This notwithstanding, his short flirtations between commercial arts and the fine arts resulted in a one-man sidewalk exhibition - European style - along the streets of Kingston. Still, the brilliance of his talent continues to bring him luck.

The man who rebelled without a cause spent only three months at Dunlop as a layout artist, that is after his 1965 return from the U.S. (from which he was almost deported). Marchand worked briefly with manufacturers of die.

Most of his artwork were personal assignments, but he showed at the Creative Arts Centre (unfortunately ending in a protest by students), and the Hotel Flamingo.

Marchand even participated in 'Stitching', Amsterdam, which toured Europe and travelled to Atlanta, Georgia. As a prisoner with over 50 incarcerations, his skill was solicited by wardens and prison authorities.

Criticises human behaviour

David,once sidetracked by criminal elements and outlawed, falls in obsessive love with his talent, and ironically uses this medium to comment on and criticise human behaviour, rather than telling tales of his own lifestyle.

Describing himself as a mixed-media artist, his free-form expressions range from wood carvings, sculptures, ceramics and painting.

He is very critical of Jamaican artists, a passion arising from his own struggles as an artist. "Artists," he says, "are living in a music cultural dibbie degga contemporary. There is no cultural value nor intelligent quota taking precedence in contemporary among our players."

As such, he claims his contemporary work is in rebellion to existing techniques, despite his obvious self-study on world-renowned painting masters and techniques. David further claims that his only influence from any painter has been in the use of his colours following Barrington Watson and Christopher Gonzalez, his neighbour.

Picasso influence

However, among his pieces revealing his assembling talent is 'Rolling Calf', influenced by a combination of Picasso's 'Bull' and the mythical Jamaican 'rolling calf'.

The artist community is anxious to see Alexander on the highway of his career and, as such, ceramist Phillip Supersad fires his free form ceramic pieces, such as his unique bowls.

Still, he continues to be rebellious but not to the extent that is shown in his work.

His works incorporate surrealism, dadaism, realism and pointillism techniques, as he attacks the behaviour of everyone but himself.

Among his works is a sculpted follicle, painter's hand holding a paintbrush. This represents the emptiness of an artist who paints until he has been encrusted, but is empty of his own ideas.

Within the house are two large murals again attacking hyprocrisy and idiosyncrasies on equal footing as the painting 'Passion' where he attacks creeps and perverts. In 'Passion', he captures a passionate sexual thrust between a white woman and a black man who is being crucified on a cross.It appears that the black man is being crucified either by the double standard society or the immoral white woman of his past who has enslaved him, but in a modern world indulges in his sexual offerings.

In the 'Hell's Angel' mural, real voodoo images are abstracted in the shape of an enormous housefly, with almost closed wings, expressing a rising of good and evil spirits. Done in a surrealistic style, the attack on black magic is somewhat attractive as the dark glasses and the skull have long fallen away leaving the fly, brightly painted in blue, to climb upwards towards redemption.

Sardine cans, dolphins, cigar boxes, the sea and swimming pools are important material for the artist.

Criticises Jamaican artists

In another strong collaged expression, the sea, island and the painter's palette become one. The palette-shaped swimming pool has a painting tube shaped out as a reclining female artist on deck, with two huge paint brushes in the form of swinging palm trees. This criticises the laid-back nature of Jamaican artists that he finds himself offering reasons why they have not progressed. Paradoxically, he blames them for being too comfortable.

In one of his creations, a dolphin jumps haply over the waves of the compressed sea set in a bed of sand. This is the influence of the recurring extraction of the sand from the beach behind his house, by his selfish neighbours who then compresses it into a smaller area as flooring for their outside bar.

In 'Clown', he ridicules government officials whom he sees as clueless on how to utilise their power for the common good of those they are voted in to lead, especially artists for whom they lack business sense. Under the nose is a 'safe' for storing miniature valuables, rendering the piece (again influenced by Picasso's 'Clown') functional.

'King Pin', inspired by a porcupine, made from ready-made materials such as a cigar box, and coloured thumb tacks, speaks volumes from his mind. The prickly box opens to reveal a colourful bed of pinheads positioned to see to the comfort of the literal larger specially sculpted pin in the centre.

Anthea McGibbon, a graduate of the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, has over 10 years' experience in the fields of journalism and the arts. Contact her at islandartattack@yahoo.co.uk or anthea.mcgibbon@gleanerjm.com.