The Blank Canvas: April 24th, 2017, Thierry Lamare

Regular host Amanda Coulson is back from a hiatus to discuss the exhibition “Love, Loss, Life,” a retrospective of the artist Thierry Lamare who is her guest in the studio. The show gathers together artworks from over a 20 year period and allows the visitor to follow the arc of his progression, from seascapes to architecture, from watercolours on paper to his use of both canvas and wooden supports.

Thierry is French by birth, but a Bahamian in his heart: having visited here in1985, he feel deeply in love with the country and with his wife, Joie Brown, with whom he moved back full-time in 2001, having lived between France and The Bahamas for the previous 15 years. Travelling throughout the archipelago in search of our architectural treasures, which he felt compelled to document in his extraordinary watercolours, he grew also to love and appreciate a slow and traditional way of life on the Out Islands.

Thierry talks about the more technical parts to his work, the use of different supports and mediums, as well as his practise of finding driftwood to create his own unique frames, as well as the more spiritual aspects. He describes meeting of his “muse” of almost 15-years, Ophelia from Long Island, whose gracious bearing he captures over and over again. Her steadfastness, her style and humour are communicated through his works for which she was a central character for almost 15 years. Thierry also speaks to her loss and how this transformed him and his own approach to his work.

Tune in every Wednesday evening at 6:30 p.m. to Guardian Talk Radio to keep up with our creative community.