One of Rampersad’s paintings.
The Art Society of T&T is to host a six-day exhibition of the work of 24-year-old Trinidadian contemporary artist Richard Rampersad.
According to the artist, Subjectivity, Ambivalence & the Contemporary Imagination, which is his first solo exhibition, will “make use of the female figure as an object for exploration, presenting haunting concepts of alienation, isolation, ambivalence and expectation.
“My engagement with the (female) figure,” says Rampersad, “explores a variety of social, political and personal issues.”
Rampersad who grew up in Valsayn and specialises in figurative painting and ceramics, began his art education at UWI. He first pursued a Certificate in Visual Arts before moving on to a degree in Fine Arts, from which he graduated with first class honours.
“My fascination for anything I see, feel or experience propels me to do what I do,” says Rampersad of his art, “and informs how I do it…art is a true mirror to my mind…I am not bound by realism and being a non-linear thinker drives my art making and creative decisions.”
Explaining that ambivalence is a key feature of his visual discourses, Rampersad says that his exhibition is concerned with the importance of individual interpretation and exploration, and is based on ambivalent connotations framed through a contemporary visual discourse.
“I attempt to make logic out of the happenings, situations and experiences in my space through art,” he says, “it is immensely imperative for the onlooker of my work to draw upon their own ideas and analysis as well as to create speculations from what is before them.”
The collection which according to the artist has the ability to speak out loudly to the human experience, “explores the conceptual and technical discourses of the female figure in post modernity and interrogates the politics of identity.”
Subjectivity, Ambivalence & the Contemporary Imagination begins tomorrow with an opening reception and is available to the public from July 20 - 24 from 10 am-5pm at the Art Society of T&T, corner of Jamaica Boulevard and St Vincent Avenue, Federation Park, St James.
