First Fete

So last night I met up with Chris to go to an art opening at a gallery in St. Ann's. It turned out to be a long night as afterwards he met up with some friends of his who had just landed from the US and wanted to go straight to a fete in Chaguaramas. I was reminded, quite vividly, why people like Carnival. It should perhaps be called Carnalval. It is such a physical and physically liberating time, with dancing and wining and bacchanal. I'll let the pics tell the story. The first fete was called AWOL. At a second fete called Eyes Wide Shut, Machel Montano performed. He is truly an artist, an entertainer, and though I've heard he can be quite a pain, well, so was Picasso. Chris got us backstage passes to the second fete so it was cool to see the fete and perfomance from that angle.

The gallery opening was quite fun. I met some major Trinidadian artists, like Jackie Hinkson who I've known for years. He was in a class I took as a teenager at the Venezuelan Institute. I also know his son, Sean. I made plans to visit his studio soon. Eddie Bowen was there. He's an artist that I hear on the lips of many young artists. Sundiata and John Stollmeyer were there. I was happy to meet all these artists though I must say I started feeling a little overwhelmed. It is such a tight knit art world I don't want anyone to feel left out if I don't see or use their work some time in the future.

Earlier in the day I did a studio visit with Dean Arlen at his home in St. Augustine. He had a painting of the Prime Minister and his absurd proposal of using public funds to buy a private jet! Dean is a prolific artist. He's working on so many things, from painting, to sculpture, to public art projects, and more. I liked his work immensely and have some pictures here.

A meeting at UWI's Dept of Fine Arts seemed promising. Steve Ouditt set up the meeting for me. He is quite handsome, Steve. We discussed a project which I'm devising to get Trinidadian artists international exposure. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that in the coming year things will work out.

There are also pics from the mas camp of Masquerade who are bringing out a band called Let the Music Play. My uncle organizes the section "Jazz" as well as brings out the queen for that band.