An exhibition featuring the paintings of UK-based Guyanese, Dennis de Caires opened at the National Gallery of Art on Wednesday with the artist hailing the high standard of local artwork and donating two of his paintings to the National Collection in memory of the late editor-in-chief of Stabroek News.
After seeing the exhibits at the National Gallery, he said what he had seen was much better than anything in Barbados or even Jamaica, two of the Caribbean’s leading countries where art was concerned. He urged that Guyanese pitch themselves at an international level saying that it was not just writers who should be celebrated but visual artists as well.
‘Pictures for Georgetown’ marks De Caires’ return, twenty years after his last exhibition here, when he co-exhibited with Frank Bowling. The 31 paintings, done between 1986 and 2009, will be on show until January 9. “I feel at home as a painter here as I haven’t felt anywhere else,” said De Caires at the exhibition’s official opening. He had left Guyana in 1970 at the age of 13, when his family migrated to England, and attended Medway and Winchester Schools of Art and the Royal College of Art.
He is currently an Associate Professor of Fine Art at Richmond University in the UK and has also lectured at several other institutions in that country. From 2003 to 2005 he was head of the Fine Art programme at the Barbados Community College. He has exhibited in solo and group shows in the UK, France, the USA, Barbados and Monte Carlo.
Curator of the National Gallery Elfrieda Bissember said that the exhibition had been discussed for several years but did not come to fruition. She noted that De Caires had held exhibitions in several countries and had won travel awards. His paintings were a result of thoughtful and very intelligent work, she said.
De Caires too recalled that they had been discussing an exhibition such as the current one for a long time. He said that he was proud and happy finally to feel part of Guyanese art.
The artist, who was related to this newspaper’s late editor-in-chief, David de Caires, donated two of his paintings to the National Gallery in his memory.
Prime Minister Samuel Hinds performing the duties of President was present at the opening as well as members of the diplomatic corps and other Guyanese artists.
The gallery is open to the public from 10am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, and from 2pm to 6pm on Saturday. It is closed on Sundays.