The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas is preparing to stage its third National Exhibition [NE3]. The call for works has gone out and artists have just about a month to meet the submissions deadline, then a jury will begin the process of selecting the pieces that will make the show.
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This work by John Beadle were among those chosen by a jury for the Second National Exhibition at the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas in 2004. (Photo courtesy of NAGB) |
It is a process that has drawn a fair amount of criticism from artists here and throughout the region, but it is one, says Dr. Krista Thompson, that provides the opportunity to reveal how much Bahamian art has evolved, on a political and creative level, over the past few years.
Dr. Thompson the curator for the NE3, was one of those who was initially sceptical of the concept, which she said seemed to be based heavily on the Jamaican model of the Annual National.
"The Bahamas initiated the exhibition at a time when criticisms of the National Gallery of Jamaica’s exhibition reached their height, indeed when Jamaica took a hiatus from the controversial exhibition model," Dr. Thompson told Arts and Entertainment.
"Art critics on that island questioned the gallery’s authority to define Jamaican art and legitimate taste in the island. At a new institution such as the National Art Gallery in The Bahamas I feared that the gallery’s national exhibition would by its very nature exclude artists at the very moment it needed to introduce the institution to the art community."
However, Dr. Thompson said that her concerns were outweighed by the positive outcomes of the exhibition.
"The national exhibition gave the art community a needed jolt," she says. "In an art community that was devoid of meaningful criticism, where few artists took creative risks, the national exhibition moved the bar – it raised the standard of artistic excellence on the island and inspired artists to meet it."
The exhibition is open to all professional artists – an adult individual working primarily as an artist, preferably with a history of exhibiting works - living in The Bahamas and all professional Bahamian artists practicing abroad.
The submissions deadline is Friday, May 26 and judging will take place on May 29.
Dr. Thompson is quick to point out that the format – a juried exhibition – is very old, as are the controversies surrounding the selection of work.
"Impressionist artists, for example, in late nineteenth-century France, who produced paintings that are now very popular and revered, were cast out of the juried Paris Salon," she says.
The jury for the NE3 will come from different facets of the art community on the island – an artist, curator, collector, educator – who were voted for by the gallery’s Board of Directors, notes Dr. Thompson.
"Collectively, they will reach a consensus on whether the work submitted represents the best and most creative forms of artistic expression on the islands at the moment," Dr. Thompson explains.
"An artist not selected for the exhibition should take heart that years from now she/he may be recognised as the ‘Monet’ of Bahamian art."
The NAGB has held a number of information sessions for local artists interested in learning more about the format and selection process of the national exhibitions. The INE – the first national exhibition – was held when the gallery first opened its doors in 2003, followed by the NE2 the following year.
The national exhibitions will now run every two years.
Education officer at the NAGB, John Cox, who has facilitated a number of the information sessions, said the response to the informative talks from the local art community has not been a good one.
He believes this could have something to do with the controversy that surrounds the format of the exhibition.
"I think the show still presents a certain amount of controversy, which I think is reflective of an art community that is coming to terms with a level of criticism and self evaluation," says Cox, who is also an artist.
The selection process can be a sensitive matter, as there is a 30 percent to 40 percent chance that an artist’s work will be accepted, and for some, that’s hard to swallow, he says.
"It means the majority of the work is rejected, which is not easy to deal with, but I think if people come to the talks and pay closer attention to what’s going on around them, outside of the national gallery, they would stand a better chance of strengthening their own work," says Cox.
At the talks, a range of issues related to the format and requirements of the national exhibitions are discussed, from the nuts and bolts of submissions and selection process to what is expected of the artists whose works are chosen.
It is generally agreed that these types of exhibitions are telling of the development of art, so what does it say about art in The Bahamas and how does it compare to what’s going on in the region?
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This work by Thierry Lamare were among those chosen by a jury for the Second National Exhibition at the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas in 2004. (Photo courtesy of NAGB) |
This is a question that Dr. Thompson approaches with a certain amount of caution.
"On one level comparisons regionally are difficult because artists in each island are responding to a unique set of concerns and are supported (or not) by local and international institutions," she says.
"I would cautiously say that artists in The Bahamas, with notable exceptions, have not been as politically and socially engaged as artists in Cuba, the Dominican Republic or Trinidad. They have not taken on, or held up a mirror to, the political, social or religious establishment.
"Artists like Chris Cozier in Trinidad for one, have mounted a sustained critique of the failures of nationalism. Many artists here, again with exceptions, have also been relatively conservative in their use of materials, seldom searching for alternative mediums that better express the meaning of their work."
Dr. Thompson cited as one example, the Cuban artist Tania Bruguera’s installation using rotting sugar cane husk, in a critique of slavery and the Castro government, but noted that artists in these countries have all had access to large exhibition spaces that facilitate the creation of these mixed media installations.
Cox says that the gallery has received less submissions for the NE2, compared to the INE, and works for the NE3 are slowly starting to come in, although gallery officials expect to get the majority of work in the last two weeks leading up to the deadline.
"The results from the exhibition was fresh in everyone’s mind and I think people may have been a little discouraged the first time around and wanted to think about and come at it in a different way," says Cox.
"When the work is sent back some artists often see this as an all out rejection when it is not. Entire art identities or movements throughout art history have been formed as a result of collective resistance of rebellion against the major art institutions.
"From the standpoint, the institution helps shape and form the development of art in a community. Just because your work doesn’t get in [the national exhibitions] based on the jurors, doesn’t mean that the work is not worthwhile."
- Austin DWI - New York DWI