A cocktail party at a stately old house like the Boissiere House or Mille Fleurs at night, surrounded by a jungle full of wonder, secret places, and magic.
That image came to mind as this reporter walked through Arnim’s Art Galleria, viewing the 27 paintings of Sarah Beckett’s third installation of her Lockdown Moments series.
The portraits are interspersed with serene jungle scenes full of greenery, flowers, butterflies, dragonflies and water. The people are dressed in semi-formal attire in shades of white, purple and grey and the light of the full moon is coming in through the doors and windows to fall upon their faces.
[caption id="attachment_918159" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Sarah Beckett celebrates the third installment of her Lockdown Moments series at Arnim's Art Galleria, Port of Spain. - Photo by Ayanna Kinsale[/caption]
Altogether, the collection is whimsical, as Beckett’s work tends to be, and feels very quiet.
The exhibition, Desiderata: Journey of Love and Solitude, will be at Arnim’s on Tragarete Road, Port of Spain until October 16.
Beckett told Sunday Newsday she read Desiderata, a poem by Max Ehrmann, in 1971. She was going through some old sketchbooks when she found a page on which she had written out the poem. It was serendipity.
The first line reads, “Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.”
She described the poem as peaceful and gentle, with kind yet realistic words. And it became a platform for her work, setting the tone for her paintings.
“Any artist is bound, in a way, to reflect what is going on in their moment in history. This covid thing is cutting deep into our society and our lives. We’ve adjusted but there’s a lot of angst. Everybody, in their particular way, is having to deal with something.
“With this show, I thought we have to go deeper than the normal. And I wanted the show to be reflective, very quiet, and for people to walk in and think, ‘I could put down my burden for a moment or two and just enjoy.”
Since covid19 has affected everyone, she wanted as many people as possible represented including African, Indian, Latin, and Caucasian individuals. She also wanted to show figures “in the embrace” of the beauty of the world, and TT in particular, as that beauty continues to bloom.
[caption id="attachment_918160" align="alignnone" width="809"] Gratitude, one of Sarah Beckett's pieces on show at Arnim's Art Galleria, Port of Spain. - Photo by Ayanna Kinsale[/caption]
She described the portraits as “lyrical,” light, and flowing saying she wanted them to seem simple and effortless even though a lot of work went into them. She had to get the balance and weight of colour right while creating quiet spaces without leaving them blank.
In addition, the subjects of the portraits have either an instrument or a mobile phone in hand.
Asked about the phones, she said they were the “icon” of the 21st century, so she decided to marry traditional painting with something that would never have been put in one.
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