roycrosse
View From Cyberspace.
About nine years ago my good friend and confidant, the artist roycrosse, left Newark, NJ to move to Baltimore, Md. Usually when such a shift occurs, bonds – no matter how robust – weaken. Friendships evolve into an occasional holiday greeting card arriving by snail or email, but not so with my New Jersey confidant. Unexpectedly, the opposite occurred and our computer correspondence blossomed into a spirited discourse and a deeper awareness of each other’s make-up, mettle and artistic idiosyncrasies. I actually have a roycrosse folder on my computer filled with his writings. I have been enriched by the opportunity to partake of poems, photos of artworks-in-progress as well as completed pieces and what Roy calls his “missives.” I respect and delight in Roy’s working process, whether it be painting, drawing, making videos, constructing an installation or listening to the sweet, musical sounds of his compositions on the Steel Pans.
THE MIGRATION EXPERIENCE – excerpt from notes and conversations: “Although I had exercised my creative spirit growing up in Port of Spain, Trinidad by making marks on every conceivable surface I could find, it was not until I immigrated to Canada in 1962 that I found support and realized that my drawings and artifacts might have a place in the world. Formally trained (Toronto – I would eventually relocate to the USA,) in painting and sculpture centered on a Euro-Colonial aesthetic, my challenge…was to find a voice that would embrace my formative development in the Caribbean with my new discoveries in America and a growing curiosity about the use of art in the lives of African peoples…”
The “Migration Experience” became critical to Roy’s approach to materials experimenting with collage and assemblage. “… The fact that I was now living and working in a society that was rich enough to support life on its rubbish meant there was lots of material available for… reintroduction into my world of art making… The impact of migration on my work may be seen through layers of time, geography, and social context…The use of abandoned materials (not to be confused with found objects)…is a direct result of my introduction to an abundant ‘throw away culture.”
At the time the Civil Rights movement was “gaining steam” in America similar upheavals were occurring in Port–of-Spain Trinidad & Tobago. Roy returned to Trinidad. His sense of injustice was honed by what he saw and was experiencing on his homeland’s streets. Since most businesses were colonially administered, roycrosse and several friends began to organize cottage industries involving local youths (selling sno-cones and food during Carnival season, designing tee-shirts etc.) out of kiosks in Port-of-Spain. While these activities caused them to become targets of the police, it created a sense of dignity among the participants that acknowledged the value of vernacular ownership despite its danger.
Continued political concerns are ever present and evident in the five large installations in roycrosse’s War & Peace exhibition:
SPIRIT TEMPLE - A beautiful hand-stitched white gossamer material enveloping the viewer inhabits a meditative space. The spectator can walk through this fragile, yet sensual environment and experience an aesthetic and visual peace. The delicacy of the work breathes life into the labyrinth that we are forced to circumnavigate as we glide our way through the artwork brushing against the gentle fabric of light.
THE PATRIOTS – A “living” room has been constructed complete with the comforts of home, including chairs, a radio, lamps, TV, computer, sconces and photographs neatly hung on the walls depicting images of what some would and others would not consider “patriots.” Words of hate and vitriol – WE DON’T WANT ANY JAPS BACK HERE EVER are juxtaposed alongside photographs of Native Americans, African American slaves and soldiers, Condoleezza Rice and General George Patton – the totality of which forces us to ask ourselves WHO is the true patriot here? The perversion and irony of the concept and language of patriotism are subdued to the confines of the four walls of our mind.
GARDEN OF PEACE - Vividly colored fabrics wrapped tightly evolve into flowers outlining a walkway leading up to an altar of cloth - wrapped guns with a lit candle precariously placed on top of the tightly woven bandaged instruments of death – reminiscent of the flower placed into the muzzle of guns during the 1960s demonstrations against the Vietnam War. The instruments of war – guns - are wrapped and camouflaged rising out of a bubbling fountain of water like the ashes of Phoenix reborn as a cry for peace.
THE WAILING WALL - Referencing historical African and West Indian crafts, roycrosse has twisted and braided material to create a cascading "The Wailing Wall,” a site where one grieves for the dead. The names of "fallen soldiers" are written and placed at the feet of the interlaced wall – a wall that is penetrable suggesting that anguish and mourning flows continuously through the twisted plaits liberating our pain.
HOMAGE TO THE VETERANS – Shrouded and swaddled crutches stand erect like soldiers lined up at attention creating a stunning installation marking the tragic injury and loss in combat. War statistics are placed on the ground screaming for us to be mindful. The collateral damage of war are the very Veterans who return and are ignored (often homeless) - cast off by the very society that enlisted them to fight their battles.
Relating to the four graphite drawings that complement the mixed media installations roycrosse says, "Fragmented Interior II, Raid, After the Raid I and After the Raid II remind the viewer of what’s left after the conflict: fragmented neighborhoods, broken cities and shadows of the former landscape become a new reality."
roycrosse grew up in a particular situation with very lean resources. Because of his own curiosity, need and self-motivation, he taught himself to do everything, an attitude he brings to his art. He is a motorcycling-riding writer/musician/composer/cook and carpenter. Anyplace he lives and works, you feel his presence both individually and in the community. He has established artist groups and Alternative Art spaces dating back to his early days in Toronto with Sapodilla Gallery and continues today with varied and penetrating exhibitions that he curates at WESTNORTH Studio in Baltimore, Md. where he and his wife Anelda reside.
Link to images
http://tinyurl.com/3msqpj6
View From Cyberspace.
About nine years ago my good friend and confidant, the artist roycrosse, left Newark, NJ to move to Baltimore, Md. Usually when such a shift occurs, bonds – no matter how robust – weaken. Friendships evolve into an occasional holiday greeting card arriving by snail or email, but not so with my New Jersey confidant. Unexpectedly, the opposite occurred and our computer correspondence blossomed into a spirited discourse and a deeper awareness of each other’s make-up, mettle and artistic idiosyncrasies. I actually have a roycrosse folder on my computer filled with his writings. I have been enriched by the opportunity to partake of poems, photos of artworks-in-progress as well as completed pieces and what Roy calls his “missives.” I respect and delight in Roy’s working process, whether it be painting, drawing, making videos, constructing an installation or listening to the sweet, musical sounds of his compositions on the Steel Pans.
THE MIGRATION EXPERIENCE – excerpt from notes and conversations: “Although I had exercised my creative spirit growing up in Port of Spain, Trinidad by making marks on every conceivable surface I could find, it was not until I immigrated to Canada in 1962 that I found support and realized that my drawings and artifacts might have a place in the world. Formally trained (Toronto – I would eventually relocate to the USA,) in painting and sculpture centered on a Euro-Colonial aesthetic, my challenge…was to find a voice that would embrace my formative development in the Caribbean with my new discoveries in America and a growing curiosity about the use of art in the lives of African peoples…”
The “Migration Experience” became critical to Roy’s approach to materials experimenting with collage and assemblage. “… The fact that I was now living and working in a society that was rich enough to support life on its rubbish meant there was lots of material available for… reintroduction into my world of art making… The impact of migration on my work may be seen through layers of time, geography, and social context…The use of abandoned materials (not to be confused with found objects)…is a direct result of my introduction to an abundant ‘throw away culture.”
At the time the Civil Rights movement was “gaining steam” in America similar upheavals were occurring in Port–of-Spain Trinidad & Tobago. Roy returned to Trinidad. His sense of injustice was honed by what he saw and was experiencing on his homeland’s streets. Since most businesses were colonially administered, roycrosse and several friends began to organize cottage industries involving local youths (selling sno-cones and food during Carnival season, designing tee-shirts etc.) out of kiosks in Port-of-Spain. While these activities caused them to become targets of the police, it created a sense of dignity among the participants that acknowledged the value of vernacular ownership despite its danger.
Continued political concerns are ever present and evident in the five large installations in roycrosse’s War & Peace exhibition:
SPIRIT TEMPLE - A beautiful hand-stitched white gossamer material enveloping the viewer inhabits a meditative space. The spectator can walk through this fragile, yet sensual environment and experience an aesthetic and visual peace. The delicacy of the work breathes life into the labyrinth that we are forced to circumnavigate as we glide our way through the artwork brushing against the gentle fabric of light.
THE PATRIOTS – A “living” room has been constructed complete with the comforts of home, including chairs, a radio, lamps, TV, computer, sconces and photographs neatly hung on the walls depicting images of what some would and others would not consider “patriots.” Words of hate and vitriol – WE DON’T WANT ANY JAPS BACK HERE EVER are juxtaposed alongside photographs of Native Americans, African American slaves and soldiers, Condoleezza Rice and General George Patton – the totality of which forces us to ask ourselves WHO is the true patriot here? The perversion and irony of the concept and language of patriotism are subdued to the confines of the four walls of our mind.
GARDEN OF PEACE - Vividly colored fabrics wrapped tightly evolve into flowers outlining a walkway leading up to an altar of cloth - wrapped guns with a lit candle precariously placed on top of the tightly woven bandaged instruments of death – reminiscent of the flower placed into the muzzle of guns during the 1960s demonstrations against the Vietnam War. The instruments of war – guns - are wrapped and camouflaged rising out of a bubbling fountain of water like the ashes of Phoenix reborn as a cry for peace.
THE WAILING WALL - Referencing historical African and West Indian crafts, roycrosse has twisted and braided material to create a cascading "The Wailing Wall,” a site where one grieves for the dead. The names of "fallen soldiers" are written and placed at the feet of the interlaced wall – a wall that is penetrable suggesting that anguish and mourning flows continuously through the twisted plaits liberating our pain.
HOMAGE TO THE VETERANS – Shrouded and swaddled crutches stand erect like soldiers lined up at attention creating a stunning installation marking the tragic injury and loss in combat. War statistics are placed on the ground screaming for us to be mindful. The collateral damage of war are the very Veterans who return and are ignored (often homeless) - cast off by the very society that enlisted them to fight their battles.
Relating to the four graphite drawings that complement the mixed media installations roycrosse says, "Fragmented Interior II, Raid, After the Raid I and After the Raid II remind the viewer of what’s left after the conflict: fragmented neighborhoods, broken cities and shadows of the former landscape become a new reality."
roycrosse grew up in a particular situation with very lean resources. Because of his own curiosity, need and self-motivation, he taught himself to do everything, an attitude he brings to his art. He is a motorcycling-riding writer/musician/composer/cook and carpenter. Anyplace he lives and works, you feel his presence both individually and in the community. He has established artist groups and Alternative Art spaces dating back to his early days in Toronto with Sapodilla Gallery and continues today with varied and penetrating exhibitions that he curates at WESTNORTH Studio in Baltimore, Md. where he and his wife Anelda reside.
Link to images
http://tinyurl.com/3msqpj6
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