The Tribune

By ALESHA CADET

Tribune Features Reporter

acadet@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMIANS know him as a dancer, but last week’s solo exhibition introduced Metellus Chipman as a visual artist. Hosted by the Kiwanis Club Over The Hill, the exhibit included a diverse collection of paintings and artwork by Metellus.

Tribune Entertainment sat down with Metellus, who said the work in his new collection depicts everyday life: the things that people often overlook. A coconut tree, drums being heated in front of a fire at Junkanoo practice, an old man resting on the side of the road: Metellus said he wanted to bring these moments to life and turn it into priceless art.

“I painted a lot of different scenes I feel are dying out. I mean unless you go back to the heart of the ghetto that is the way you are going to really see these things. I might have moved from there, but that is where I am from and I wanted to express it through my paintings,” said Metellus.

He said he wanted his paintings to just reflect home and “the real Nassau.” Metellus said he tried to capture real things and images. Images such as children playing “push the tire”. He said people do not see those games being played anymore. He has a piece in the collection entitled “Playtime,” which reflects that.

“Those are the things that brought us to this day now and that is our base. I also like to just paint from my mind. It isn’t really a photo I have in the front of me that I paint, I like to paint my thoughts. That is why in my paintings, you see mostly silhouettes and colours,” said Metellus.

Speaking about a painting in the exhibition called

“Story Teller,” Metellus said it was inspired by Junkanoo veteran Fast Eddy.

“I just had to paint it. It wasn’t something that I flipped through and looked at. I might flip through books or things just to trigger my mind but if I don’t get a certain feeling from it than I wouldn’t paint it,” said Metellus.

Speaking about his move to the visual art arena, Metellus said: “Entertainment falls under giving your audience a good feeling about your work and art does that as well. Being an entertainer as a dancer, this is the same thing; I am just expressing it on a canvas now,” he said.

Metellus said his dancing and art inspire each other.

“It is not that I am trying to balance the two, I just want them to do their own thing. There is going to come a time when I can’t dance anymore, but I still can paint. So all of the movements and pictures that are still going on in my mind from dancing when I was younger, I can express it with my hands and paint.”

Metellus is fond of the piece “Mammey”, which reminds him of his great grandmother. It displays an old lady raking the yard like his mother and great grandmother would do.

“They just go out there and do what they have to do,” said Metellus.

The three-dimensional piece “Feel the Funk” was years in the making. Mr Metellus said: “I was just driving by someplace one time ago and I saw a guitar in the trash can, I guess someone didn’t want it so I asked the people if I can have it, and they said yeah. I took it home and I had it home for months and I didn’t know what to do with it or what to paint on it.”

“The same time I saw a piece of plywood somewhere else that was just lying around. I took that home and I combined the two and that made “Feel The Funk.” To balance it off, I painted an expression of the gentlemen on the board, making it look as if he is playing the guitar and he’s just feeling the funk,” said Metellus.

Although Metellus said he has been painting for years, he said “I am just trying to open up”.