Judith Bettelheim

Portuguese

Portal de Periódicos da UFBA

Judith Bettelheim *Ir-.THREE TRANSNATIONAJL ARTISTS: JOSÉ BEDIA, EDOUARD DUVAL-CARRIÉ AND KEITH MORRISONJosé Bedia, Edouard Duval-Carrié and Keidi Morason are three Caribbean artists vvho now reside in the United States. Morrison moved from Jamaica to the United States in 1959 to attend university, and has remaincd here since. Morrison is both a painter and an educator, and he is currently Dean of the College of Creative Arts at San Francisco Sate University. Duval-Carrié’s fainilv moved from Haiti to Puerto Rico vvhen he was a child, and he attended high school in New York and university in Canada. He now has homes in Miami and Haiti. Josc Bedia moved with his wife and son from Cuba to México in 1990 and then to Miami in 1993. So what constitutes an artistshomeornationalidentity? Many artists who now live in the U.S. reveal in their work layered identities. Think of all die African, or Caribbean, or Asiatic artists living and working in London, or all the Pacific, Caribbean, or African artists living and working in Paris. And rhink of all the contcmporary artists who are refuges, self-designated or otherwise. Wc are solidly in the era of the transnational artist. What is so interesting about these three artists is that their work speaks to issues of personal/ cultural identity while simultaneously invoking broader issues of migration and the fragile contemporary human condition.In Keirh Morrisons work we are invited to a visual feast. Each story he tells has a Jamaican element, a personal anccdote about his life in a country and a culture that dirives on stories, where storytelling is a very special art form. In Jamaica there is a tradition which produces plays and “pantomime” full ofwords and raucous laughter. I enjoyed tliis tlieatcr and storytelling wisdom when I lived there in the mid-seventies. The Caribbean is full of stories.' Morrison has invented his own standard characters to create a personal vision that com­bines social commentary on contemporary urban culture, with Jamaican references, with personal history, all flavored with an intellectual distancing and punctured by a potent dose of humor. Morrison often refers to his own “personal lexicon of myths and images”, and no doubt liis Jamaican roots have a lot to do with the creations. At the same time diere is no denying that some of his imagery has parallels in other Caribbean iconography, in Haiti, in Cuba, and in the Afro-U.S.A.. Although Morrison contends “I don’t tty to make it Jamaican; I don’t even tltink about Jamaica”, he does acknowledge that many of the images are born of very basic things in black culture. Morrison’s actors embody both historical expericnce and religious ritual.53, , .Cultura,VlSU (KÍSalvador, EBA/UFBa, v. 1, n° 8,2o Semestre 2006XgzSâã' s*&z? £_..•Judith Bettclheim‘“ Kr *í»- SjDeath is a recurring tlieme in a series that was exhibited at Bomani Gallcry, in San Fran­cisco in spring 1996. As Morrison was explaining his fascination with graves, I suggested that many of the themes he works with provide a type of exorcism, a way to recall and come to terms with his Jamaican youth. He often accompanied old rclaíives to funerais. In Jamaica funerais are a grand affair, an appropriate opporfumty to honor those who have passed on, while meeting widi relatives and friends, some one might only see at funerais. Morrison has written: “In the Caribbean a funeral is a wondcrful pageantry of religion and supernarural spirits, a place where reality and fantasy coexist.” He broke into a chuckle while remembering the festive occasion that accompanied his own mothcFs funeral. “Basically, they launched her,” he statcd with a broad smile.“A Funeral Fit for Egvpt”, 1995, is a powerful summarv of Caribbean and African American humor. Here is the artist laughing at himself and his peoplc. Yet this laughter is filled with rcspect and perhaps some nostalgia. Morrison spent his youth participating in complex religious events (some on the sly, away from family who would have disapproved), yet today he considers himself one of the least religious people he knows. He fills his paintings with Biblical references which, knowing Morrison, perhaps should be regarded as literary rather than religious. He is truly an urbane man, yet his paintings depict the disinfegration of the city and city life.Morrison is well-versed in African American lirerature, and many of his paintings, such as “A Funeral Fit for Egvpt,” comment on certain aspeers of it. Throughout die history of the African Diaspora important tliinkers have used the image of Egypt to affirm black creativiry and strengtli. Egypt as a conceptual force and historical fact is at the core of both formal religion, such as Rastafarianism, and popular culture. In “A Funeral Fit for Egypt” icons of Egyptian tomb paintings adorn the ravaged buildings and tombstones. Ir is a grandcelebradon of death. Yet in the center of the pamring. above the terrestrial tale, a golden trumpet is carned aloft in the talons of a green feathcred tropical bird. I cannot help but think of references to Gabriel merging references to Miles and Dizzy. I am even tempted to speculate that the lush tropical bird and the golden hom provide a relief, an image of joy in the gritty decomposed city.Morrison also uses references to things Eg>rptian satirically. Perhaps he is commenting on the fad for images of Egypt, or Egyptian things, as a way to rcference Afrocentric philosophizing. In the painting “Crabs in a Pot” (1994) a fneze of Egyptian-styled figures and animais decorate the ãrcumference of a clay pot in wluch dolls, a skelcton, and crabs are cookcd. Tliis ominous rcference is to the African American proverb of “crabs-in-a-barrcl”. ITiis phrase originatcd with Booker T. Washington in liis autobiography Up From Slavery, written in 1901. According to the artist, “the pot is sometimes my tableau where the futüity of human turmoil and sclf destruetion plays itself out, like burning bodies clawing over one another in a death filled cauldron.”It is tempring to compare Mornson’s art wnth Haitian painting. Most Haitian paintings also tell a storv, and, to the uniniriatcd, the stories may appear to be similar. Both contain references to death, to gravcyards, to skcletons. But there is a big diffcrence. Haitian paintings by and large tell similar stories; they are stories of the /ira, the gods of the Yodou religion.54JoséBediaPara un Ciibanito l 'iajero. ..Cultura,.VlSUfrl Salvador, EBA/UFBa, v. 1, n° 8,2o Semestre 2006THREE TRANSNATIONAL ARTISTS: JOSE BEDLA, EDOUARD DLrVAL-CARRIÉ AND KEITH MORRISONMairian iconography is for thc most part determincd by Vodou or by Mairian histor}r, and herein lies thc challenge foryounger Mairian artists toda}'. They must innovate on these very standardized narratives. That is why recent work of the Mairian painter Duval-Carné is so potent. He has created a ver}- personal, stylized version of rhe base iconography of Vodou, metamorpliosing rhe hva into hannting stylizcd acrors.Duval-Carrié crcares complica ted dramas that are as full and nuanced as Morrison’s, alrhough their srylistic means is quite differenr. Wliilc Morrisons canvases are packed with fi­gures, actions, and landscapc, Duval-Carrié’s are almost stark and staric, even rhough the figu­res are dcliberately detailed and dramatic. Borh artists use lush Caribbean vegetation to assist ín daiming place and moment, even though one is not quite sure wliich moment is being referred to. For cxamplc, Duval-Carrié’s figures are often dressed in the style of eightcenth century France, recalling the penod of the Frcnch Revolution (1787 was the storming of the Bastillc). And at the same time this style rccalls thc dress of the French coloniais in Saint Domingue, soon to be renamed Haiti after rhe successful fight for independence from France (1792-1804). Sometimcs Duv.il-Camé even uses the dress of the contcmporary elite of Haiti, who live somewhere bctween colonialism and its legacy, just as they mav live somewhere between Haiti and Miami. And then hc dresses the hva in these same fashionable clothcs, forcing the vicwer to closcly scrutinize the sccne to figure out who is “real” and who is a spirit.This is made quite clear in a recent series of paintings “Milocan ou La Migrarion Des Esprits” (1996), (Milocan or the Migration of the Spirits).2 The first panei is “Le Dcpart” (The Departurc). Naked humans are led away in chains, but they are painted in non-human colors, bright pinks, oranges, and turquoise. This is the first hint we get that these “humans” may in fact also be somcthing else, perhaps even the African spirits that make up the core of thc Vodou religion. These naked souls areYidouard Durai C.arriéMilocan on La Migration des Esprits: La Trarcrséechained to others, clothed and fancily dressed. One has a skeletal face and is wearing a jacket adomed with what may be African style amulets, lirtle packets of power that also will be taken to rhe Américas with the captives. Here Duval- Carrié is alerting us to the African sources of the Vodou religion, and to the special esteem that is due the ancestors of thc people of the African Diaspora. In the background a tree with many brandies and a human-like face in its trunk watchcs over the scene, and then we realize that this tree too wears an iron collar and is also apnsoner.The second panei “”la Traversée” (The Crossing) obviously references rhe middle passage. The collectivc group of spirits are seated in a row boat, adrift on a blue occan.55The “tree” accompanies them in the back of the boat, and two of the branches have metamorphosed into human limbs and hands. Duval-Carrié has placed the tree in the absolute center of the composition, a device that he has used frequentlv in other paintings. This is a reference to the tree trunk-like center pole of.Cultura,VtsudlSalvador, EBA/UFBa, v. 1, n° 8,2o Semestre 2006Judith Bettelheim•“ 2LJAYodou, thc “poteau mitan”, which the hva dcscend during a Vodou Service. In this painted large wall figures and accompanying narra tive the strength and spirituality of África floor installations, José Bcdias Fali 1997are being transported to the Américas, albeit exhibition, at the George Adams Gallery, NYC,under horrendous drcuinstances.Although known for his signature hand-consisted of ten carved and painted wooden Duval-Carrié has developcd a singular objecr-enscmbles, made from lightwcight pine, style which reflects a poetry of ambiguity. His mounted on the walls, and t\vo handmade figures are flat, grapliic, and starkly painted. Thcy boxes resting on pedestais. In these new pieces are dclíberately posed, as if frozen in a particu- thcre is a condensing of narra tive. Bedia lar scenc, a part of a narra tive. We see them in references die use of miniature mass-produced rich detail,can describe tliem in the minutedetail figurines and religious representa tions that Duval-Carriéoffers,yetwecannotbesure commonly associated with childrens roys and if we are reading the narrative correctly. These religious altars, and includes these along with bizarre lushly colored actors perform a drama his own hand made objects. These that continues and repeats, much like the history constructions exhibit finely painted figures instark outlines, juxtaposed with a recurring Since the early 1980s, when he firsr began depiction of specific trees, plants, animais, and to exhibit internationally, José Bedia has objects, such as knives or machetes, used in his questioncd both the role of religion in religious practicc. contemporary life and his particular situation as a Cuban citizen. And because of his personal religious references with imagcsofimmigrationsearch for both spiritual and artistic stability, and travei. Many of the objects are vehicles ofBedia also has straddled many worlds, some physical transportation, like boats and trucks.spiritual and some physical. Bedia’s artistic Here themetaphor for Bedia’s own life is direct,vocabular); litcrally in terms of written text and for the refercnce is to both physical andin terms of recurrcnt imagery, is predicated on metaphysical movement. Both of theseliis life experiences, so that a certain basic levei of references are autobiographical, for, as self-biography is at least helpful in permitting a depth designated refugees, Bedia and his family haveof Haiti itself.In these pieces Bedia has combinedof apprcciation of his multi-lavered work. José moved and Bedia himself has been moved by Bedia wasinitíated into the Afro-Cuban religion his religious practice.Paio Monte in 1983. This marks a time of In a similar vein, the two small boxes hint transition, when Bedia began working with a at migration and faith, which is always portable.living religion and the people who practice it. “Para un Cubanito Viajero” (“For a Wandering For some artists the “popular culture” of Cuban” 1997) is a hand-made toolboxnon-European religious experience provides constructed as a portable altar, consisting ofnothing more than ccrtain elements to be tíiree altar-like rooms which pay homage to themanipulated, thus relegating religious belicf to a three major Afro-Cuban faiths: Paio Monte,marginalized position wirhin artistic produetion. Santcría, and Espiritismo. Placed in the openBut for Bedia, his religion and his collaborations lid are miniature statues of the most importantwith other religious leaders and artisrs provide a gods of Afro-Cuban faith. Although each isfoundarion and a wellspring of aesthetic energy. represented by a Catholic saint, all religiousWhile living in Cuba he was an active partidpanr Cubans know that each saint is cross referencedin all events at the house of his Paio Monte Tata, with an A frican deity. For example, the Brownor initiating sponsor. In his art Bedia reveals the Virgin is the Yirgen de la Caridad de Cobre, themultiple contexts of his own life and the parallel patron saint of Cuba, who is celebrated as thelayering (hybridity) of contemporary sodety. Afro-Cuban orichaOchún. Painted on the backí„ ..Cultura, VtSUfcl Salvador, EBA/UFBa, v. 1, n° 8,2o Semestre 2006THREE TRANSNATIONAL ARTISTS: JOSE BEDIA, EDOUARD DUVAL-CARRIÉ AND KEITH MORRISONThe latter rcferenccs an oath takcn by religious adepts who swear to kecp thc faith. The Crying eye again reminds us of rhc travails of the immigrant. During his years of traveis the educatcd tourist José Bedia has seen and collected crafts, but he knows well that these objects cannot subsrirute for the expericnce, tangible and heart- felr, of the immigrant and believer.Bedia, Duval-Carrié and Mornson present us with actors and lush anguishing tales of layered histories. Here is the emergence of a ncw cultural condition, steeped ín a respect for the past and fnghrened by the violence of the present. These contemporary artists are creating transcultural art that participates in and reflects the cultural hybridity of the later twentieth century. It is through their art that we get hints at how they position themselves in a complicated process of cultural exchange and express a transcultural cidzcnship.Keitb Mornson Funeral Fit for Fgyp!of the other box is a swimmer posirioned betwcen two miniature wood ships, pardally submerged in the wafer. One boat is named Cuba, the other Habana, and both are sinking. A man on an inner tube is stranded in the vast ocean which cncompasses and sinks the boats. This composition is a reference to the balseros- the Cuban refugees who flee on inner tubes, with perhaps only their faith to sustain them.These objects are deceptive, for Bedia has constructed miniaturized environments reminiscent of scenes that children build. Bedia worked with his son Pepita to create these objects. But their content and subject matter belie their fonn, for senous content merges with brightly painted toy-like objects. A related painting, “Al Limite Posible” (“At the Extreme Edge”, 1996), has a miniature inner tube aftachcd to the canvas, with the rope emerging from a painted depicdon of Havana architecture set along the top perimeter of the canvas. In the blue ocean below, Bedia has painted two eyes, one crving and one pierced by a sword.Notas1 Satirical drama in play and in song is a longtime Caribbean tradition. In Jamaica comics have pcrformcd “pantomimc” fordccadcs. In lhe 1950s Mornson, while still a youngstcr, worked as an apprcnrice stage designer and. later, as IV sound effccts technician with some of the great |amaican comcdians, Ranny Williams, I.ouise Bennett, and Charles I lyatt.2 “Milocan” is a Vodou word which refers to a spirit which is a collective entity. Its veve (sacrcd drawings) is composed of part of the veve of many differcnt hva.* Judith BettelheimPh.D. Professor of Art San Francisco State University57Salvador, EBA/UFBa, v. 1, n° 8,2o Semestre 2006

Three trasnational artists: José Bedia, Edouard Duval-Carrié and Keith Morrison

https://periodicos.ufba.br/index.php/rcvisual/article/download/54224/28975

Three trasnational artists: José Bedia, Edouard Duval-Carrié and Keith Morrison

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Portal de Periódicos da UFBA