Published by St-Barth Weekly - Local News in English
Edition N°349 - January 7, 2016 (page 06)

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The St Barth tourist office uses the promotional slogan, The Art Of Being An Island, which has taken on a new meaning in recent years, with the visual arts playing a larger role on the island’s landscape. Last year, that vision was confirmed with the Jasper Johns exhibit at the Territorial Museum, organized by the association Saint Barth Ile d’Art (Saint Barth Island Of Art).

Continuing its exhibits of work by internationally acclaimed contemporary artists, the association also organized this year’s exhibit by Francesco Clemente, which runs through March 23 at the Territorial Museum in the historic Wall House in Gustavia. Born in Naples, Italy in 1952, Clemente became a leading and influential figure on the stage of world art. He has visited Saint Barth since the 1970s, renting a house on the beach in Lorient as a refuge and studio. His current show is a message of love for Saint Barth, for which paintings were specially created, based on “Omeros,” an epic poem written by Caribbean poet Derek Walcott from Sainte Lucia, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992.

The Gagosian Gallery has established an annual tradition in presenting internationally acclaimed artists at Eden Rock Gallery in St Jean. This year, the honor goes to Jonas Wood, a Los Angeles-based American artist whose work is in the collections at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; and Saatchi Gallery, London. In the drawings seen at Eden Rock through January 31—Wood recycles "clippings" from his own paintings, stilllife sketches, and photographs of exotic plants, and sets them into formal play. Rendered in a bright palette or grayscale, close-up or suspended in space, they comprise a diverse garden of lyrical transformations.

Artist Kate Kova, who currently has a solo show at the Ortega Gallery in Gustavia, studied painting, sculpture, and music at the School of Fine Arts in her native Ukraine prior to immigrating to Canada in 1998. She started her career as a painter in Montreal, where she pursued her studies. Her artistic vision has been shaped by frequent travels around the world. Having experimented with multiple media, Kova has now devotes her considerable energy and passion to the art of painting. Since 2013, she has been living and painting in St. Barthelemy.

Space SBH Gallery has an ambitious program this season, with three exhibits in three different spaces. First is a show featuring Philippe Pasqua, one of the most important artists of his generation, whose work has become highly collectable, from his rich sumptuous oil portraits to the softness of his drawings. The centerpiece of this exhibit is a beautiful polished bronze, Vanité, one of Pasqua’s favorite subjects, decorated with the delicate butterfly— a symbol of the soul. This show also includes work by Marco Glaviano, Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Hunt Slonem (in advance of his solo show in February). 

Space SBH also has a group show at its gallery at the Taiwana Hotel, comprising work by Julio Larraz, Hunt Slonem, new works by Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Enzo Fiore, amongst others. 

Space SBH has also organized an exhibit by landscape photographer Kieran Walsh, with a series of St Barth landscapes, at its newest gallery at Le Guanahani Hotel. The photos show off this gem of a rock in the middle of the Caribbean—with Walsh capturing the island’s landmarks in striking, timeless black and white. This exhibit runs through April. 

Contact the gallery for
more information:
info@spacestbarth.com