ART/SNEAK PEEK : FOCUSING ON MAGIC OF MUNDANE.The gods must be crazy. Why else why would they always be messing with our poor mortal lives? Crazy, yes, but also inspiring if you're artist Bernard Stanley Hoyes. ``In all mythology the gods were nothing but mischievous children,'' says the L.A.-based painter, his polyrhythmic Jamaican accent still echoing through his speech. ``They just went around creating mysteries on everybody and seeing what happened.'' The same could be said of Hoyes' own mysterious work. Born in Kingston, Jamaica The City of Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica. It is located on the southeastern coast of the island country at Coordinates: . , 46 years ago, Hoyes moved to New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. in 1966 and settled in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. in 1975. But he continues to filter his paintings through his youthful impressions of the West Indies West Indies, archipelago, between North and South America, curving c.2,500 mi (4,020 km) from Florida to the coast of Venezuela and separating the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico from the Atlantic Ocean. , bringing to his art an intuitively pan-African view of history, culture and spirituality. ``I don't use models and I rarely use photographs,'' he says. ``I'm drawing from stream of consciousness and memory.'' Throughout his career, Hoyes has delved into the mysteries of spirituality and, conversely, the magic of the mundane. After 30 years he seems to have concluded that the gods don't want human affairs to be too orderly and predictable. For one thing, it doesn't make for good art. Steeped in hot colors and emphatic brush strokes Brush Strokes was an Esmonde and Larbey sitcom set in South London and depicting the (mostly) amorous adventures of a good-looking, wisecracking house painter, Jacko (Karl Howman). , Hoyes' paintings celebrate the disorderly side of faith, the blurred iconography of the human soul. Rather than drawing fine lines History Fine Lines is a new Japanese rock band that consist two members from band called Husking Bee. Their dual emotionally charged vocalists, and impressive musicianship of the members: Tetsuya Kudo on bass, Kazuya Hirabayashi on guitar and vocals, George Kurosawa on guitar between Christianity and its ``primitive'' counterparts, his work emphasizes those spiritual elements that overlap from one religion to another. Southern Baptist references, voodoo rituals and ancient Amerindian symbols all may find their way into one of his canvases. Take a look at his 1997 oil painting ``Gaming Bird,'' one of the works on view in ``en'-trance & en-trance,' '' a dual exhibition showcasing Hoyes and photographer Mary Ellen Andrews at Seven Sanctuaries gallery in Sherman Oaks. A brilliantly colored rooster rooster its crowing at dawn heralds each new day. [Western Folklore: Leach, 329] See : Dawn rooster symbol of maleness. [Folklore: Binder, 85] See : Virility squirms in the foreground, clutched by a man fingering a fat cigar and wearing a wide-brimmed hat. The man's heavily stylized styl·ize tr.v. styl·ized, styl·iz·ing, styl·iz·es 1. To restrict or make conform to a particular style. 2. To represent conventionally; conventionalize. face resembles an African or Amerindian mask; two other masks peer at us through the twisting foliage. The image suggests a Santeria priest, using cigar smoke to calm his sacrificial prey. But is the scene lifted out of a Kingston market, a Port-au-Prince back street or a South Central park? To Hoyes, the distinction hardly matters. Spiritually speaking, he insists, there's ``really no difference'' between the various faiths of the African diaspora, other than ``the accouterment of the rituals.'' Like many of his works, ``Gaming Bird'' swirls many cultural ingredients into a rich spiritual stew that has little to do with organized religion. The theme of spiritual commonality was key to one of Hoyes' locally best-known works, ``Apparition apparition, spiritualistic manifestation of a person or object in which a form not actually present is seen with such intensity that belief in its reality is created. of Healing Spirits.'' Reacting to L.A.'s 1992 riots, the artist installed wire-mesh human figures at three fire-bombed sites around the city. He accented these with ceremonial platters and fresh flowers, symbolizing L.A.'s need to grow through adversity and upheaval. Coincidentally, just a month earlier he'd done a similar installation in Kingston in memory of a 1977 uprising. Hoyes says he feels ``a strong association'' with California and Los Angeles ``in the sense that I matured as an artist here.'' The city has reciprocated his good will. His work has been exhibited at such prominent venues as the Museum of African American Art African American art is a broad term describing the visual arts of the American black community. Influenced by various cultural traditions, including those of Africa, Europe and the Americas, traditional African American art forms include the range of plastic arts, from , the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History The Fowler Museum at UCLA or more commonly, The Fowler is a museum on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) which explores art and material culture primarily from Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and the Americas, past and present. , Watts Tower Art Center, the Laguna Art Museum The Laguna Art Museum is a museum located in Laguna Beach, California. Laguna Art Museum represents the core California art scene. It places the aesthetics of the west coast within a national and international context and develops scholarship on the art history of California. and the Armand Hammer Museum, as well as at many private galleries. While he no longer uses his art to preach about politics, Hoyes wants it to convey the harmony of the American experience - even in turbulent times. ``The changes that we see now (are) directly related to what came here to America ages ago, the spirits that came with Africans, the spirits that were here with the Indians, the spirits that the Europeans brought with them. They're all here in this New World. It's Europe and Asia and Africa marching down the main street together. ``We're just rejoicing in the fact that we're still here and partying.'' Seven Sanctuaries is located at 14106 Ventura Blvd. in the courtyard of the Rive Gauche Cafe. Hours are noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday or by appointment. For information, call (818) 990-7049. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: Bernard Stanley Hoyes' 1997 oil painting ``Gaming Bird'' is one of the works on view at Seven Sanctuaries gallery in Sherman Oaks. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion