Barbados, Gallery of caribbean art : Two coulorists

Alison Chapman- Andrews

BARBADOS

GALLERY OF CARIBBEAN ART

ALISON CHAPMAN-ANDREWS & TRACEY WILLIAMS

TWO COLOURISTS

Although trained in English art schools, Alison’s  ” art vocabulary” was developed in the West Indian landscape, drawing in Barbados and Guyana. The rural environment of royal palms, fields and plants, became her inspiration and subject. As the subject was familiar and not “difficult”, she felt free to pursue her own interpretations and impose her ideas of colour and design.  She is currently concerned with texture of paint and the use of collage.
Materials used in  these works include bark cloth, various weaves of linen, sand, sand paper, coconut cloth, buttons,  polystyrene ,a selection of Japanese papers,and various cloths. Acid free gel has been used as glue and most surfaces are covered in acrylic paint.
 The new work also forms part of an ongoing search for a new subject matter

 This exhibition features a series of “Bathing Suits’ “of the same size and format, a torso with arms outstretched, and upper part of the thighs. Most are on linen and have an element of collage; they are all female with one exception. ( El Dorado , not illustrated)

 12 are shown together in one large wall piece. The first painting was a mixture of the landscape, (a small painting of coconut fronds (exhibited here) show its inspiration, which then became the pattern on a suit she had seen while at aquasize. So they became  figures in a swimming pool. This changed to bodies in the sea where they undergo a ‘’sea change into something new and strange (Shakespeare), and further develop into images referencing “Venus Arising from the foam” by Botticelli. In these the figure disappears into the sea, while a realistic sky emerges above the horizon.

I believe that the next painting produced will be the one to succeed totally. This continual search for a successful personal outcome is what it seems to be about. All I can do is keep making, composing, and working. Fortunately each painting, magically, seems to carry within it the germ of the next”

Alison Chapman- Andrews