Feature From The Exhibition: Northwest Gallery

Resurrection by Claudette Dean

Claudette Dean’s Resurrection explores our societal understanding of human identity. Metaphorically, Dean’s piece speaks to the sameness that we are all born into. However, in the passage of life our very being becomes fragmented through the use of labels. Visually, Dean speaks personally to the visitor as she dissects her fragmented identity by boldly stating that she is “more than” each societal label ascribed her to her body. This notion of fragmentation is echoed in Candis Marshall’s Pilgrimage. Upon a cursory glance, Marshall’s piece appears to be a close up of a plant, with the plants body in the faded background. Metaphorically, the piece speaks to the passing of time, as two human-like figures appear to be making a pilgrimage together. Through the use of bold colors the two beings are made part of a large collective whole, and in their pilgrimage they are fragmented and made different from the whole.

 

View of the Northeastern Gallery

Steven Schmid’s pregnant female in Gedankenexperience visually echoes the works of the old masters, with a female softly clutching her swollen belly as her head is bowed in reverence and peace. Despite her peaceful pose, Schmid’s piece is awash in dark elements that speak to the fragility of one’s cultural acceptance and place in society upon birth of a child that is not societally deemed appropriate or acceptable. Apryl Burrows’ Independence 4.0 also echoes cultural acceptance and the struggle for equality. Burrows’ female is clad in a flesh colored gown of fabric strips and chains. Each strip contains an element from The Bahamian constitution pertaining to women’s rights and their right to vote. Despite the empowering words written on these strips, the gown is also awash in chains, which reflect women’s ongoing struggle for full freedoms and equality in The Bahamas.

 

Gedankenexperience by Steven Schmid

-AK

National Exhibition (NE) 6: Kingdom Come is currently on display in T1 and T2.

Feature From The Exhibition: The Ballroom

How do you rise above life’s dramatic changes and transitions with a smile on your face or a shred of hope? Some suggest that we don’t rise above them at all but instead move with these changes, these minor and major apocalypses. Joseph Campbell philosophizes that we have to dive into the fire to find our treasure. Many of the artists in this space have dived into an abyss of some kind. Whether it be the exposure of Bahamian societal issues in Kishan Munroe’s Beacon of Hope, physical and emotional turmoil in Kendra Frorup’s installations Duran Duran and A Constant Internal Smile or Dede Brown’s study of rebirth in her installation Chaos is the law of nature; Order is the dream of man, on the most basic level these works speak to our natural human instinct for persistent survival in the midst of change.

Munroe explores contentious topics and issues within his painting Beacon of Hope. We are a country that is “in the way” of many Haitian’s desperate for escape to the United States. As a result, Haitian immigration has become an inevitable and chronic problem that became exacerbated by shipwrecks, capsized boats and shanty towns burning to the ground. Munroe is concerned with those whose lives are threatened to be crushed under the weight of this and similar issues. Child abuse, oil exploration and women’s rights are only a few tensions that Munroe visualizes. One may ask where is the hope? Munroe believes that those who have survived are this hope, those who have risen above the many shipwrecks that have crashed into the reefs of this country, both beautiful and deadly. Only these persons, who are indeed beacons of light, can guide out those of us with flickering flames.

Beacon of Hope by Kishan Munroe

“Where you stumble, there lies your treasure.” These words by philosopher Joseph Campbell are an ideal frame for Frorup’s double installation. Duran Duran is a visual representation of the past that forms the life of the moving man and the maze of roads one take to get to a better future. Each step is a literal and figurative weight on our shoulders. There does exist moments in time when we must fight for our future. The red foreground on one of the two panels of Duran Duran speaks to this violence and its necessity; this hustle and flow that is a must for any person intent on survival. A Constant Internal Smile addresses the micro to the macro blows that seem to strike with the force and efficiency of Muhammad Ali with a speed ball. Births, deaths, a job lost, a job gained, a love lost, a love gained; small and large calamities that disturb worlds already peppered with chaos. Frorup asks and answers the question; When the dust settles, what will we find in the end?

Duran Duran and A Constant Internal Smile by Kendra Frorup

Dede Brown’s installation, Chaos is the law of nature; Order is the dream of man speaks to battling forces that have a mysterious existence and strange tension; chaos and order. The moment one morph into the other is Brown’s definition of an apocalypse. Rightly so since Campbell wrote that “Your sacred space is where you can find yourself again and again”. Where else can one find themself but at the tail end of a chaotic experience? A dramatic rebirth and realignment at the human and universal level are similar discoveries that Brown explores through her installation. The sum of each part of Brown’s installation is representative of a rebirth and change. Each suspended feather and their cumulative composition suggest a sense of alignment that is constantly in motion. And motion is a prerequisite for change.

Chaos is the law of nature; Order is the dream of man by Dede Brown

-NP

National Exhibition (NE) 6: Kingdom Come is currently on display in T1 and T2. The National Art Gallery Of The Bahamas will be closed on Monday, December 24th, Tuesday, December 25th and Wednesday, December 26th.

Mixed Media Christmas Shopping Day

The Christmas countdown begins! There's less than a week till December 25th, are you ready?

Our Mixed Media Store will be open on December 24th from 10AM to 4PM for all you last minute shoppers!

The store has a variety of local, hand made artworks, jewelery, clothing, books, figurines, pottery, ceramics and so much more. Give the gift of culture this Christmas with an NAGB membership or NAGB exhibition catalogue.

 

The administrative office will not be open during this time.

Shop Locally This Christmas

Give the gift of Art + Culture this Christmas to your loved ones!

Support Local Artists This Christmas!

Treat someone to the gift of NAGB Membership this Christmas! 

 

 The gift that keeps on giving, the gift of culture, NAGB Membership.

NAGB Membership

At the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas we are pleased to offer an array of exciting and exclusive packages that allow you to contribute to our gallery and further our mission.

The National Collection is acquired and maintained by funds raised. We are committed to sharing our collections, exhibitions, and the historic building in which it is housed with you. However, admission fees are not enough to further our mission.

Your support - through any one of our unique packages - is key in enabling the NAGB to continue offering the shows, programming and events to Bahamians, residents and the wider international audience.

You’re welcome to become a part of a dynamic art institution. Keep reading for more information about NAGB Membership!

 

Membership Department Announces Special Christmas Offer

Treat yourself to something new at the NAGB Mixed Media Store!

On Member Shopping Days this month our valued Members receive 20% off ALL NAGB merchandise!

Stop by our store today.

NAGB Tribute to Petrine Archer-Straw (1956-2012)

Dr. Pertrine Archer-Straw at the launch of Dawn Davies' Love & Responsibility

The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas is saddened to learn of the passing of Dr. Petrine Archer-Straw this week. As a highly respected presence in the art community, Dr. Archer-Straw will be greatly missed.

She served as a consulting curator in the formation of the National Art Gallery of the Bahamas and will be remembered for her invaluable contributions to its establishment.  She will also be remembered as curator of two large-scale exhibitions at the Gallery: One Man’s Vision, The Vincent D'Aguilar Collection (for the official opening of the NAGB in 2003) in addition to "Past, Present and Personal", The Dawn Davies Collection (30 September, 2004—31 March 2005). Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends.

National Art Gallery of Jamaica Tribute to Dr. Pertrine Archer- Straw
ARC Magazine Tribute

NE6: Our Visitors Respond

Inside the Ballroom, located in the front of NE6: Kingdom Come, visitors are encouraged to participate in the exhibition by answering a series of questions. In these questions we ask viewers, Who Is Their Greatest Hero Of Fiction? And What Is Your Motto?

Each of these questions are important as NE6 artists were asked to respond to the same. In participating, visitors actively engage with the show and become part of a much larger discourse.

The NAGB is open from 10 to 4PM Monday to Saturday and 12 to 4PM on Sundays. NE6: Kingdom Come will be on display till April 7th, 2012.