Various Small Fires is pleased to announce Presented as Natural, Che Lovelace’s second exhibition with the gallery, and his first exhibition in Asia. This presentation of paintings draws from a pool of works produced over the last six years.
Lovelace’s vibrantly-charged paintings channel the flora, fauna, and culture of the artist’s birthplace and home country, Trinidad. Cumulatively, the exhibition creates a diverse portrait of the artist’s life on the island: from the peaceful quiet of his studio, to the cacophonous urban landscapes of Port-of-Spain, to the community life that surrounds the artist’s annual participation in Carnival.
Familiar themes in the artist’s practice like Last Light on Palms interprets the rays of afternoon light fluttering through the palm leaves outside his studio window, transforming and elevating the everyday studio experience. Other works such as Dancer by Speakers illustrates Lovelace’s decades-long participation in various Carnival activities, a cultural pillar for all Trinidadians but also the origins of Lovelace’s longtime fascination with capturing bodily movement and speed.
The panels that comprise his paintings are made of compressed paper boards originally used locally for binding books. Lovelace’s preference for the pulp material carries many meanings in the artist’s personal life. Because these standardized panels are inexpensive and readily available in Trinidad, Lovelace used them as a substitute for traditional canvas early on in his career. Furthermore, the relation to paper and bookmaking could be seen as an appropriate starting point for a novelist’s son, whose artistic community was that of literary luminaries such as Derek Walcott and his father Earl Lovelace. Stylistically, the pulp panels forced Lovelace to take unusual and radical approaches to the painting process.
