Essay Environmental Force: On Poetry, Abstraction, and the Nature of Survival Letitia Pratt ● March 27, 2024 Environmental Force (2005),
Environmental Force: On Abstraction and the Nature of Survival
All posts tagged: Kendal Hanna
Blank Canvas: Nov 15, 2023 “Re: IMAGE” & “Invisible Returns”
On Blank Canvas, host Amard Rolle (the NAGB’s Executive Assistant) is joined by multidisciplinary artist Keeya, artist in residence at The Current: Baha Mar Gallery.
The Role of the Arts in Addressing Climate Change
By Blake Fox. Currently on display through June 2, 2019, at the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas (NAGB), the Permanent Exhibition “Hard Mouth: From the Tongue of the Ocean” focuses on how both verbal and visual language have shaped us as a country. One could argue that The Bahamas is a phonocentric culture, meaning speech is given precedence over written or visual work. Because of this emphasis on speech rather than written or visual work, it is no doubt that The Bahamas has a very rich oral culture. While Bahamians rely heavily on oral communication to pass down culture and traditions, visual and written works are just as crucial in communicating cultural beliefs and values in societies. This exhibition highlights Bahamian artwork that serves as a conduit to bridge the gap between our visual and oral culture in The Bahamas.
Kendal Hanna’s “Rainbow Explosion”: Finding self through abstraction
Kendal Hanna, a Bahamian artist and forerunner of abstract painting, brilliantly captures energetic expression and emotion through the intense repetition of line exemplified in Untitled (Rainbow Explosion). Hanna has masterfully engaged in his medium, stretching its ability to exist both boldly and lightly, from heavy black in the foreground to a luminous yellow in the background. Splatters surrounding the composition and within provide insight into the craftsmanship of the work, leaving signs of active brushwork –one may imagine Hanna physically engaging with the paper, paintbrush and paint with high energy, working confidently as his subconscious mind expresses itself on the paper.
Local and Global: Kendal Hanna and William de Kooning
Within Kendal Hanna’s works there is great inspiration and reference to a particular abstract artist. Abstract art could not exist
Kendal Hanna’s “Happy Birthday To Me”
Currently on exhibition at the National Art Gallery is Kendal Hanna’s Retrospective Exhibition, “Happy Birthday To Me”. Spanning work from his near-60 year career, the exhibition features over 140 pieces ranging from Hanna’s psychologically intense portraits, his classic nude studies, and compelling abstract expressionist pieces. Curated by Dr. Erica M. James, the exhibition opened on the 25th of June 2011 and will sadly end in January 2012, so visit while you can!