One of the first art pieces I ever purchased was a Bernard Stanley poster. The one poster had three pieces of his on it, one above the other. They are all from his Spirit series. For me, it was love at first sight.
Initially, I was drawn to the vibrant color in these pieces. Then the movement captured me. These women seem to be unencumbered, dancing confidently and free. There is also a strong sense of community in these pieces. All these women are dancing together, celebrating together. For all of these reasons I knew I had to bring home that poster!It went in my bedroom and I would just stare at it. I loved it.
Another piece I purchased at a later date was Daughters. In this piece I loved how the huge jungle leaves seem to almost protect the family as they walk. The eldest daughter is holding a book, and all the girls are in beautiful dresses which all leads me to believe they may be walking to church. For me personally, going to church as a kid is something I can fondly identify with. These are just my musings when I look at the piece, I could not find a history on it to confirm or deny my theory.
I never looked up any information on the artist. Now that I have done some research, I was surprised how young Bernard started working as an artist, and the spiritual aspects of the art that I was not aware of.
Bernard Stanley Hoyes' artistic talent was noticed at an early age in Kingston, Jamaica where he was raised. At age nine his mother would sell his wood carvings and watercolors to tourists, which contributed to the family income.
Bernard's professional art training took him to The Institute of Jamaica, Junior Art Centre and Art Students League in New York by the age of fifteen. Bernard developed as an artist with apprenticeships from Norman Lewis, Huie Lee Smith and John Torres.
In the 1970's Bernard formed Caribbean Cultural Institute and Caribbean Arts, Inc. to Further expose Caribbean culture to America. The Institute provided classes, workshops and a space for cultural events centered around an Afro-centric theme.
Bernard was always inspired by the Caribbean Culture, and Caribbean spirituality. Hoyes explains that he paints "from an intuitive point of view," that during the process the "spirits take possession" and the ritual theme becomes dominant. These insights, his Jamaican heritage and the membership of his paternal family in "revival cults" (an Afro-Christian sect with strong African retention roots) provide cues as to why these paintings are perceived as authentic revelations of altered states of reality.
In a short biography of Hoyes they describe his art, "Field of colors are infused with primaries in harmony. These works are intuitively inspired with no preliminary sketches. Each completed painting suggest the composition and content for the next. Color becomes personified as symbolic as various combination's are used to express national as well as spiritual connotations. "
I greatly appreciate that Bernard is inspired by his culture, his family, color, movement and spirituality. All of these things are important to me also, though he expresses it in ways I cannot. Knowing more about the man who's art has been in my home for several years is very interesting. I have a renewed appreciation of them.
Resources: http://www.bernardhoyes.com/shop/bh-bio.htm
www.allposters.com
I have never heard of this artist...although I love his paintings. I love the bright colors and the energy in them. They are beautiful pieces of artwork and I am interested in knowing about more of the artist.
ReplyDeleteWOW! I can tell that you have a strong connection to Bernard's pieces and thought it was awesome that you decided to find more information about this artist after having his pieces on your walls for years. Is he the only artist that you have on your walls or are there others? It seems like you are a very cheerful person since you like bright colors. I also liked his use of bright colors because it was cheerful and after you mentioned he was from the Carribbean made a lot of sense.
ReplyDeleteThe pieces are vibrant and colorful. I liked your analysis especially the part of how you got a real sense community. I think the artist you choose was very interesting and his pieces really showcases the essence of African community. It reminds me of the Banjo Lesson by Tanner. The women in his pieces are very strong and vibrant they really give a sense of stability. I thought the pieces really contrasted with the more realistic portrayal of the kids walking to church. Do you know if they were really suppose to be on their way to church? Overall I thought the artist and paintings you choose were vibrant and intriguing.
ReplyDeleteThese paintings are amazing, I love the vibrancy in the images and the energy of movement created through these bright hues and flush brushstrokes. The artist seems very in tune spiritually and that is reflected in his paintings. I like how you were initially drawn to the image by the colors and the movement within the piece, and then later researched the artist and learned more about him. I always love discovering new artists and exploring artwork that I am not familiar with. I wasn't aware of this artist's work previously, although I have seen a couple of his pieces in the past I did not recognize them all to be by this particular artist. I like how you included several of his pieces in your blog so we could understand our analysis better.
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