Location: Miami, Florida, USA
Originally From: Trinidad
Contact: http://brianwongwon.blogspot .com/ and www.masjumbies.com brianwongwon@yahoo.com
More about Brian...
I am a Trinidadian born artist with over eighteen Carnival-inspired solo exhibitions including shows in South Florida and London. I've been using Trinidad Carnival as my subject since 1995, so much so that the media and critics labeled me the Carnival artist in 1997. I have been told that I am probably the only painter in the region to make the depiction of Carnival my raison d'etre.
Art found me; I never intended to be an artist. It was via history and the love for architecture and design that eventually led me into fine art. The Carnival specialization only came into being in 1995, quite late as I was finishing up my BFA. It was only then that all the pieces came into place and the Inner Man began to speak.
In 2007, I embarked on another creative journey of expression, into the very thing that started it all - Trinidad Carnival. The mas band MAS Jumbies will debut on J'ouvert morning, quite fitting as the dawn of 2007 Carnival begins and in that, a new creative arena for expression.
My first solo show was Pandemonium in 1996, where the painting titles were written in French as a tribute to Trinidad Carnival's ancestry; many other shows would follow leading up to my 19th and 20th solo show next year at Carnival 2007.
I grew in Woodbrook, a stone's throw away from the bacchanal and where many mas camps call home. It is here that the madness starts on Carnival Monday and Tuesday. Over three decades of mas have passed in front of my eyes, from Minshall's Paradise Lost to Lil Hart's Anthony & Cleopatra . My very first Carnival experience began at an early age with a Midnight Robber on Phillip Street one Carnival Monday in 1974. Carnival throughout the years would influence and colour my visual palette with the black of Jab Molassies, the rich red velvets of Gownmen and the pure whites of Fancy Sailors. Growing up surrounded by the intricate gingerbread architecture of suburban Woodbrook only sweetened the mix.
The art is vibrant and detailed, with colours that run the gamut of the spectrum. Though representational in nature, the work takes on a different perspective with regards to visual and aesthetic elements. Colour, indeed, plays an integral part of the picture, but so does the compositional treatment in the construction of the work. In the paintings there seems to be no definite delineation of foreground and middle ground, but rather a combination of eschewed perspective that flows with the spectral sounds of pan and calypso. The paintings possess a spirit of their own, enthralling the viewer in a world known or unknown. Through the tapestry of details, a story or journey of discovery may unfold, offering up more to what is just apparent. Viewing the work you get a visual experience as all the sounds and energy of Carnival leer out for your attention.
My paintings try to compress everything-every detail, every emotion, the energy, and the atmospheres-everything into one. They take the viewer back into the Carnival atmosphere; making him lost, enraptured and entangled in the intricate sea of form, line and colour. If you played mas the sensory voyage is even more heart felt and complete.
The medium I use is gouache, a water-based medium that has its origins as far back as the Italian Renaissance. A slightly flat and chalky medium, it proves amenable to the style and nature of my painting. It gives the clear, flat and precise colours that I seek. I often refer to the work as "reality in an animated existence". They do not seek to be realist interpretations of events at all, but in fact have a far different purpose.
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Monday Mas on New Street
Am, whey Auntie?
Villa on Archer Street
Allyuh see daddy?
Come nah
Who he think he go frighten so?
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