Anthea McGibbon, Gleaner Writer

'Ceremonial Basket' by Paula Daley on show at the Super Plus Under-40 Exhibition at the Mutual Life Gallery last Wednesday. – Photos by Peta-Gaye Clachar/Staff Photographer

At times, to be appreciative of art, you must become blind to what you perceive art to be.

And so it was that two weeks ago, sombre drum beats by two Akawaaba drummers - Phillip, a ceramist and Clive, kept pace for some 100 patrons to be lost in the visions of four shortlisted finalists in the Super Plus Under-40 Artist of the Year competition.

These four individuals vie for the jury-selected 'Artist of the Year' trophy and $100,000 and the public vote which bestows a cash prize of $50,000.

"The competition is the fulfilment of a personal desire to expose a Jamaican avant garde to a wider audience," says Wayne Chen, one of the masterminds of the contest. As a long-time lover and collector of Jamaican art, Chen was anxious to see artists "fully express themselves and not be inhibited by the constraints of the marketplace".

This led him to discussions with Mutual Gallery curator Gilou Bauer and seven years ago the Super Plus Under-40 Artist of the Year competition materialised.

Bauer provides the opportunity through the gallery for young artists who are "grounded in modern times", who she feels have as much to say as their predecessors.

Opportunities

Wayne Chen (right), CEO of Super Plus, greets last year's winner, Keisha Castello (left), as the executive director of the National Gallery, Jonathan Greenland, looks on, during the opening ceremony of Super Plus Under-40 Exhibition at the Mutual Life Gallery last Wednesday.

It also presents opportunities for businesses to financially support the art community, which guest speaker Taynia Nethersole considers to be sorely lacking.

So far, the top four artists, Paula Daley, Cleve Bowen, Oya Tyehimba Kujichaguila, and Kereine Chang-Fatt who have all received some training at the Edna Manley College of Visual and Performing Arts, have gone outside perceived limits. They explored new boundaries of artistic expression, boldly stepping away from what's normally expected from them.

Deeply religious artist

Cleve Bowen, the only exhibiting male, is deeply religious and as such his works reminisce on his gratitude of Jehovah's provisions. He attempts to capture and make tangible the scattered focus of natural light in his translations of God as light under the theme 'Light goes 3D'.

The main problem lies in thefinal execution of the work and that his ideas have not been communicated or expressed with proper flow especially, 'There's No Such Thing as Luck'.

Nonetheless, he transmits his understanding of themes such as resurrection and cures for diseases as he chronicles his own recovery from illnesses in his largely experimental work. He also deals with public recovery from social and spiritual ills. Two rotating cubes 'The Light Box' and 'The Black Box' are placed in front of a mural, which is further shaded by a transparent plastic blind, and upon which changing forms are beamed.

The boxes are also set beside 'The Seven Resurrection Scrolls', an assemblage of scrolls and a see-through poster of relevant biblical scriptures printed in red for redemption.

This is his telltale of his recent bout of illness and with good insight, one eventually reads the messages and criticisms through the rotated signalled images from an overhead projector through the blind superimposing on the mural. The rotating boxes encasing X-rays are his metaphors of the Creator, a potter at work.

A stroll into Kereina Chang-Fatt's 'Relationships, Human Connections', immediately connects you with her passions and obsessions with human emotion.

Using textile as the skin, abstract blouse-shapes from gauze, and red abstract hearts and roses from cotton, combine to reveal her experiences and hidden tales of Jamaican women, immediately connecting with the femininity of viewers. Having reconstructed and deconstructed her emotions - fears and insecurities - into love through reshaping (wearing, burning, etc.) of fabric, Chang Fatt seems to have only just begun emptying welled up passions, as she simultaneously strengthens and empties herself.

This teasing display of her own reservations reminds us that human relationships, however advanced, are always at beginning stages, perfected over time with explorations. According to the president, a basket of red abstract roses nested atop a flow of fabric (skin) donned by bandage ballsbalances feminine and masculine hormones.

'Memories Are Kept Here' presents no difficulty to interpret as the abstract carnations are concentrated on the hung blouse shape, just where the heart will be covered. Perhaps for a better illustration of her ideas, the hung positions of 'Progressive Unravelling' (16) and 'On The Inside' (14) could be switched.

A new ritual

'Mending Box' by Kereina Chung Fatt.

The deep drums beat maintaining spiritual connectivity came from the sacred space masterfully created by Paula Daley. Combining varied 'Objects of Rituals', Paula inspired a new reverence for artistic expression, with her multi-purpose pieces, aesthetic enough to be also marketed commercially, and giving her added plus.

Totally travelling to new horizons as religious minds often do, Daley recommits known religious artefacts, found and often overlooked material, including dried leaves, metal and egg shells, to newly designed ritualistic objects. Her installation is a creative working of her fascinations with timelines, space, and spirituality to create a new ritual ? a celebration of freedom to express and explore to sedate drum beats.

Return to primitive past

Pieces like 'Throne Of The gods', 'Keeper Of The Flame' return us to our primitive past, but strengthens us in the contemporary to cope with issues such as life, death, afterlife. Daley gives new purpose to eggs and the cross beyond being symbols of hope, forgiveness and reproduction.

Pieces such as 'Keeper Of The Covenant' leads us into examining and reaffirming our own commitments as Daley does. Religion references included pocomania, obeah, Judaism, Santeria, Rastafarianism, Rosecrucian and Christianity.

Oya Tyehimba Kujichaguila's 'Whisper Through Us' is not only amusing, but is a collection of succinct statements of her interpretations and observations of her take on life where she seeks justice. With boxes with slits for peep holes at various positions on the varied pieces, she captures the essence of 'man', an outer and an inner side.

Huge penis

After we are introduced to what's presented to us, we must find the relevant openings to see and hear what's encased within. 'A New Twin Towers' is a huge penis, so dominant it is the first thing you see when entering the room.

It is Oya's blatant point that almost everything that's tall and towering was or is fashioned from the shape of an erected penis, which many shy away from accepting as normal reality. "Take for example, she says, the Twin Towers once erected in New York.

In 'Hierarchy Of Needs 1 & 2', there are three levels. We go from a hellish experience through challenges to hope, some interpret as heaven at the top.

Conjuring almost comical imageries, Tyehimba Kujichaguila's messages are strong such as in 'Rapunzel: A Jamaican Feary Tale' and most times stemming from her spiritual musings for example, 'God's Dwelling Place' and 'According To The President'.

Together, all four have set free their art pulses.

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