The Tribune

IN THE hospitality industry, first impressions mean everything, forming the basis for a dynamic and meaningful guest experience that will make the Bahamas a standout global destination.

To that end, Baha Mar’s art team, The Current, is coordinating thousands of art moments across the $3.5 billion development to ensure that guests will be inundated with Bahamian culture from the moment they arrive at the luxury destination resort this spring.

Most of these art moments help to define the distinct vibes in each of the four hotel brands – the Grand Hyatt, the Baha Mar Hotel & Casino, the SLS and the Rosewood.

One of the first major projects to near completion are four large murals by Bahamian master artist Max Taylor, which will greet guests in the Grand Hyatt lobby with rich depictions of Bahamian life.

“Art is such a central part of Baha Mar that you don’t need to go looking for it; it meets you at the door,” said Baha Mar’s Creative Art Director John Cox.

“The space in the lobby of the Grand Hyatt is a high visibility spot, so I felt like it was a good moment to act as sort of an opening chapter to the story of art all around campus.”

A painter, printmaker and ceramicist, Mr Taylor has earned his place as a master visual artist in Bahamian art history.

Utilising a variety of creative techniques and styles, he addresses a range of subject matter in his creative practice, making him one of the most versatile artists practicing in the Bahamas today.

Over the past few months, Mr Taylor has been steadily painting the murals in The Current art studio, bringing together abstract figures, geometric shapes and hand-applied linoleum patterns in myriad colours to form tributes to Bahamian people, history and culture.

“It looks at different types of history in the Bahamas – of culture, in performance, in music, of art itself – and sets a festive tone for the Bahamian Riviera,” said Mr Cox. “It’s powerful and proud. But mostly it’s a large expansion of decades of experience that this master artist has shared with us.”

Born in 1939, Mr Taylor had little interest in visual art until his late teens when he apprenticed in ceramics at the Chelsea Pottery School for Art alongside fellow master artists Kendal Hanna, Brent Malone and Eddie Minnis. When the school closed down, Mr Taylor headed to Europe and dedicated himself to studying painting through museum visits and self-taught emulations before finding his way back to Nassau.

At a crossroads in his life with few local artistic opportunities and outlets, he applied for both college studies in art as well as the army to join in the Vietnam war.

“At the same time that I was accepted to the Art Students League in New York City I got a letter from American Consul saying that they were ready to interview me for the army,” Mr Taylor remembers. “I chose to go to school. So that’s how I survived. I think it was a good choice.”

Mr Taylor spent 20 years in New York City studying visual art, in particular printmaking, at the Art Students League, the Pratt Graphic Centre and the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop. Though printmaking remains his favourite medium through which to express himself, he often finds himself drawn back to painting, and enjoys combining the two in order to create deeply compelling bodies of work.

“What a lot of people don’t understand is that before I went to school, I was self-taught in painting, so I created my own style of painting,” he said. “The way I work, you know, I let my hands control me rather than me controlling my hands and then my brain thinks after I stop.”

Utilising this technique for the Grand Hyatt lobby murals, Mr Taylor worked with loose themes of festivity and Bahamian life to craft a dynamic narrative. Letting the particular details come to him in the moment and inspired by the range of colours at his disposal, he steadily crafts these gorgeous masterpieces layer by rich layer.

“I love experimenting with colours, so when John said he and the Hyatt wanted the murals to be festive with a lot of bright colours, so I told him straight and plain that if you want it then you are going to get it. I am trying to sort of capture joy, life, rhythm, and colour – bold, bright colour,” he said.

“When the Grand Hyatt guests see it and study it, I hope they will find all kinds of beautiful landscapes and symbols. I hope the colours will uplift every person.”

Mr Taylor’s murals are just one of the thousands of opportunities for Baha Mar’s guests from all around the world to learn about Bahamian visual art, culture and way of life.

Each moment of art – from the reproductions in guest rooms to specific installations and original commissioned work in key areas around the development, to three gallery spaces – is carefully chosen, The Current said, to reflect the authentic character of Bahamian culture in order to bring global attention to our unique creative community.

“One thing I think about Bahamian artists, most of them have the ability to do anything, any project,” said Mr Taylor. “A Bahamian artist does not always get this opportunity, especially on such a broad scale, so I think Baha Mar is a fantastic opportunity. I’d really like to say thanks for choosing me as one of the artists to be part of this global platform.”