In the Bahamas, the 7^th Annual Exhibition of Bahamian Art presents Transforming Spaces 2011. As part of this project, New Providence Art and Antiques (NPAA) will house the exhibit entitled “Dreaming,” a group show displaying the talents of five young Bahamian artists—Allan P. Wallace, Jace McKinney, Omar Richardson, Damaso Gray, and Kishan Munroe. The exhibition will be on view from April 2 through April 21, 2011. The Nassau Guardian reviews:

The thread of the dream runs through their collective work reflecting conscious and subconscious hopes, aspirations, and desires, not only of the single individual, but of Bahamian society and beyond. In tackling issues that confront us, their work takes on a universal quality, forging connections through our shared experiences, while at the same time making viewers examine their own preconceptions, and hopefully, their own dreams.

Kishan Munroe’s art inhabits liminal spaces of our human experience; the moments, periods, eras when we make transitions from life to death, from joy to sadness, ignorance to understanding, ecstasy to agony. Going beyond representing the superficial, Munroe seeks to engage the parts of us we keep hidden, the journeys we take subliminally, the fears and frailties we hope no one notices. He seeks to uncover all those unspoken assumptions and prejudices that we sometimes righteously defend. Kishan Munroe was born in Nassau, Bahamas in 1980. He attended the Savannah College of Art and Design where he earned a BFA in Computer Generated Visual Effects and an MFA in Painting. [. . .]

Damaso Gray was born and raised in the fishing and farming village of Williams Town on the island of Little Exuma. As a boy, he dreamed of a world beyond his small island. Having moved from his island home, he now faces the reality of living in a society that struggles for social identity, economic and cultural independence as well as the setting of its moral compass. Gray’s paintings reflect the contradictions and meanings of this journey. He is a graduate of the College of The Bahamas with a B.A. in Art Education.

Omar Melvin Richardson was born and raised in the Bain Town neighborhood of Nassau, Bahamas. He is interested in cultural and personal symbolism and its relation to the human condition. The key concepts in his work are memory, reflection, loss and re-invention. Richardson uses a combination of photography, text and sound to represent the complexity of human emotions. By combining and layering these processes, he is able to express beauty, anger and sadness in the same piece of work. [. . .] Richardson is a graduate of C.R. Walker High School, and the Savannah School of Art and Design. He has an M.F.A. in Printmaking and an M.A. in Commercial Photography.

Jace McKinney earned his BFA at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). He has participated in a number of art shows locally and internationally, namely, in places such as Providence, Rhode Island (USA); Ghana (Africa) and in Maui (Hawaii). Jace has recently been published, having produced the illustrations for the Bahamian children’s book “Lenny in the Big Yard.” He currently resides in The Bahamas working as an illustrator and storyteller.

In the first grade at school, Allan Wallace was asked to go to the blackboard and draw a boy. He drew an actual human body, not just a stick figure. Although his talent is God-given, over the years Allan has struggled with coming to terms with this gift fearful of the power and light in his fingers. Now, he recognizes that his life has been a series of lessons in God’s classroom and that first and foremost he must use his gift to its full potential. Now poised and ready to paint, he holds lightning in his hand and, as God leads… paints with fire.

For original article, see http://nau.live.mediaspanonline.com/news/artsandculture/Five-young-Bahamian-artists-exhibit-in–Dreaming–at-NPAA

Also see http://www.creativecaribbeannetwork.com/page/14533?forum_start=n15059#comment-15059