The Tribune

By JEFFARAH GIBSON

Tribune Features Writer

jgibson@tribunemedia.net

THE LIQUID Courage art gallery launched its first art exhibit “Assemble” last week, featuring the work of over ten artists. The gallery shares the space with the liquor store owned by art lover, collector and proprietor Marks Roberts. Assemble featured the work of nine local and international artists including Bahamian artist Heino Schmid. Other artists included Charlie Billingham, Rose Davey, Claire Dorsett, Pauline Michnowska, Donal Moloney, Rob Phillips, Harriet Smith, Lisa Smithey and Sarah Kate Wilson.

For the very first show, curator Tessa Whitehead said she wanted to take a different approach, which was the reason why she asked the international artists to submit pieces based on the theme of travel. The pieces depict in very intriguing ways a point in time when each artists left home to take on adventures in new places.

“I chose nine international artists to make work for this exhibition. I asked them to make work that would fit into a suitcase, and would respond to its migration to the Bahamas. As you can see in the exhibition many of the artist’s responses quickly grew beyond this size limitation, but speak about travel or displacement,” the first time curator said.

“I asked Heino Schmid, to respond to the work within the space. I am interested in the way that each of the very disparate artworks respond to each other when assembled in a new space and similarly, how Heino would perceive such unfamiliar work,” she said.

Assemble presented a new challenge for Heino. Before hanging his pieces in the intimate space, he familiarised himself with the work of the other artists.

“The way I approached it was not a direct response to the content of the work from the United Kingdom artists, it was more of an attempt to get to know some of the images by just hanging them. So getting everything on the wall first and using the negative space or the space that was left to really insert myself into the exhibition that was already hung. It turned out to be very organic; some of the things that I ended up working with in the studio kind of echoed what some of the other artists were bringing like colours and even the sizes of the photographs that I took,” he told Tribune Arts.

“This is a very wonderful space. It is small enough to be intimate and big enough for artists to be ambitious,” he said.

As Assemble is the very first exhibition to be held at the Liquid Courage gallery Tessa said she was pleased with the outcome.

“It was a compelling opening and the audiences’ reaction ranged from very positive to very critical. I hope that it will continue to act as a platform for unfamiliar, challenging and fun art and design.”

She also said the artists featured in the exhibit not only created “a visual output for the exhibit, but are also actively researching their pursuit.”

“For example Donal Moloney is researching time-consuming painting, which he describes as possible receptacles of time. While, Rose Davey’s artwork is a result of her research with the rectangle and colour. She describes her practice beautifully in saying: ‘all paintings are dictated by the proportions of the rectangular panel on which they appear. Paintings become figurative in the way that they serve as portraits of themselves’.”