AC Interview: Jackie Hinkson - Caribbean Artist / Trinidad & Tobago - Pt. 2
Categories: Interviews, Caribbean Artists
Light & Shade Geometry
Architecture Caribbean: Is there a particular space in the city or country that you would love to do a grand exhibition for artists if you had the opportunity?
Jackie Hinkson: None that I can think of, but I am unfamiliar with all the big spaces that some institutions or corporate structures may have to offer. The upper floor of the National Museum and Art Gallery is a great space but its present layout, distribution of wall space, lighting, vulnerability to outside elements etc. make it far from ideal. Other large spaces, not designed for such a purpose, could of course be temporarily adapted to such an exhibition, but at some expense and inconvenience. In short, there is no ready space but several potentially good ones.
AC: What is your dream project?
JH:
I have none, unless the planned ones mentioned earlier can be considered dream projects. I see my work as a constantly evolving thing that changes as my thinking and vision evolve. In five years time, if I am here, I will no doubt have newer or different dream projects.
Passing, Tobago
AC: What is the present state would you say of art and artists in Trinidad & Tobago and the Caribbean?
JH: Again, I can only speak with some certainty about the Art scene in Trinidad. Compared to what it was around 1960 when I was a young aspirant, the Art world now is unbelievably dynamic and widespread, doubtlessly due in part to Trinidad’s healthy economic situation. Countless young people are studying Art formally and exhibiting. The number of art galleries is growing and, recently, some of the owners, increasingly aware of international standards, are upgrading their display areas. The number of private and corporate collectors is increasing and the general public, probably through travel, is more sophisticated and supportive.
There is now an art faculty or department at the UWI and the newly formed UTT (with which I am not really sufficiently familiar) offers some classes and has artists on it’s staff for teaching and research. The massive Academy for the Performing Arts will soon be opened but I have no idea exactly how it will be structured. A number of artists are now full time professionals. There are however some persistent negatives. I find the quality of press coverage and critiquing to be poor, thus retarding public education and encouraging some artists to extravagantly promote themselves.
The National Art Gallery and Museum is in dire need of rehabilitation and the relationship between state bodies and visual artists remains tenuous. The Art Society is not supported by a large number of serious artists. In general artists tend to form, perhaps not un-naturally, groups or cliques creating a vague atmosphere of diffidence and distrust. I assume from what I hear and from my limited experience, that some of the above holds true for many other Caribbean islands but I do know that both Jamaica and Barbados have better infrastructure and better organized art bodies.
Studley Park, Tobago
AC: What projects do you have planned in the future?
JH:
Frighteningly, too many. I have already begun about 10 life-size figurative wood sculptures. It will take me a couple of more years to complete them. I have also begun a mural-size depiction of my memoirs in charcoal. I have completed some 45 feet of it. This, of course, will end with my end. I plan to begin next year, and have already started preparatory work for, a series of oils that will capture new and changing Port-of-Spain. I also have in mind to produce a number of very large paintings on themes that I consider representative of contemporary Trinidad society. I will also continue with my drawing and sketching of everyday life and with my plein-air watercolours. Clearly, I cannot achieve all of the above, but….
AC: What advice would you give to young artists? JH: Be prepared to work very, very hard for your entire life.
Architecture Caribbean would like to thank Mr. Hinkson for a great interview, and compliment him on his artwork. His knowledge and extreme passion for art is contagious, and encouraging. He is a humble man who has a wealth of knowledge, and more importantly, shared that knowledge with us. His artwork depicting buildings, landscapes, and life, intertwine with our memory palace making us experience and re-experience these "places" every time we observe his work. Its familiarity is the draw. We look forward to staying in touch Jackie, and again well done!
