Art visual np2

Detail from Ebony G. Patterson's  The Counting Money HaHa (Counting Lesson Revisited )   (2010); mixed media. (Courtesy CRB /NGJ). "The consensus is that the National Gallery of Jamaica’s  Young Talent V  survey was a resounding success, marking a decisive shift in artistic ground, not unlike the infamous 1997 Saatchi show  Sensation  that launched the career of the Young British Artists. "  That is the opening sentence of Annie Paul's review ,  recently published by the online journal   Caribbean Review of Books ,   of "the latest in a series of exhibitions curated by the National Gallery (of Jamaica)  whenever a quorum of noteworthy new talent is aggregated" .  The first  Young Talent  was held in 1985, followed by exhibitions in 1989, 1995, and 2002 : "As the catalogue states: “The  Young Talent  exhibitions have been scheduled whenever the NGJ curators felt that a sufficiently large cohort of...

The Republic has hosted people, art. Photo by Andre Bagoo. Just off the insane asylum in St Ann's, at a bend on Sydenham Avenue, is a small gingerbreadish house with a red door. The fretwork is painted primary school green, the walls are the colour of body lotion. There are burglar-proof iron grilles and wooden louvres. 'The Republic of Sydenham', which opens up inside into several rooms, including an incredible attic, has, over the last few years, been a home for art, music, dance, critical discourse and fete. It is currently the home for New York/Trinidadian based dancer Makeda Thomas and her Roots and Wings Movement which has hosted a dance and performance institute there. Last year, the space opened a modest art gallery. Countless musicians, including LAZA beam, Coreysan, Sheldon Holder and Sheldon Blackman, have also performed in its walls. For many, The Republic has been a regular stop; an alternative to places like Zen. I've attended  some great limes and partie...