Toppa Top 10: Ten Jamaican Visual Artists You Should Know

Words by LargeUp Crew—

Jamaica’s visual artists don’t enjoy the same level of international fame as its musical talents, but that doesn’t mean they’re not world class. From the colorful street murals around seemingly every corner in Kingston to the rootsy “intuitive” paintings of people like Ken Spencer, artistic stimulation is never far away in JA. Our primer on modern Jamaican art highlights ten (+1) of the most notable painters, sculptors and illustrators from the country’s last 50 years.

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Barrington Watson

Barrington Watson has been described, simply, as “Jamaica’s master painter.” Educated at the Royal College of Art in the UK, Watson’s marriage of European style and quintessentially Jamaican scenes has kept him at the forefront of Jamaican art since his emergence at the very start of Jamaica’s post-independence era in the early ’60s.

Ras Daniel Hartman

Ras Daniel Hartman was the definitive illustrator of the Rastafari experience. His charcoal and pencil drawings mesmerize and have been copied countless times, although he never had much financial gain from his work. The famous “Original Rasta Baby” is his—actually the title is “Prince Emanuel”. He made a foray into acting as Pedro, Ivanhoe Martin’s best friend in The Harder They Come.  Sadly, he passed away in Tanzania in 1990 at age 47–only two years after his repatriation to the motherland. (See also Albert Artwell, Everald Brown and Birth “Ras Dizzy” Livingston)

Ken Spencer

Ken Spencer was hands down Jamaica’s most prolific fine artist. A self-taught painter, he chose to return to Jamaica and ply his craft after having lived in the London art scene for a couple of years. His pieces of everyday Jamaican scenery adorn homes business and institutions across the island.

Cecil Cooper

Cecil Cooper is Jamaica’s most famed abstract painter. He’s also one of its foremost art educators, having headed up the painting department at the Edna Manley School for the Visual Arts.

Ebony G. Patterson

Mixed-media artist Ebony G.  Patterson uses strong imagery and experience in video, painting and installation to engage with Jamaica’s controversial subcultural conversations in dancehall, bleaching and masculinity. In her work Christ and Co. featured at the 2010 Biennial she placed dancehall artistes on an alter and adorned them with gaudy accessories while, in her latest piece on show at the current National Biennial, she uses video to explore gender and genderless forms. She was recently named on Huffington Post’s “Top 30 black artists under 40.” —Erin Hansen

Wilfred Limonious

Wilfred Limonious was one of Jamaica’s most prolific, outrageous and influential album illustrators. Initially working exclusively for Sonic Sounds, he went on to design cover art for a huge number of labels in the 80s, from Techniques to Jammy’s. Favoring slackness over slick design, his instantly recognizable and oft imitated rough-around-the-edges cartoon style mirrored the new emerging sounds of the dancehall and its scene—tons of invention, energy, hilarity and a heap of crazy characters. His work was recently featured in Art in the Dancehall alongside fellow album illustrators Tony McDermott and Jamaal Peete, among others. —Suze Webb

Dawn Scott

A mixed-media artist who also worked as a fashion, interior, stage, and set designer, Scott’s best-known work, 1985’s A Cultural Object (see above), was a spiral-shaped “zinc fence” structure which brought the harsh reality of Jamaica’s inner city life into its National Gallery, where it remains to this day.

Laura Facey

Jamaican sculptor Laura Facey is considered one of the island’s most controversial and acclaimed artists. Winner of the Aaron Matalon award in 2010 for best in show at the National Biennial for her piece Plumb Line, Facey is also responsible for Redemption Song– the sculpture which graces the entrance to Emancipation Park– of a naked man and woman mirroring one another, lifting their heads towards the sky. The piece symbolizes the words of Marcus Garvey “Free yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our mind” and created shock amongst some Jamaicans for its frank nudity. —Erin Hansen

Clovis Brown

Jamaica’s greatest satirist, Clovis Brown has kept his fingers on the pulse of the Jamaican public for nearly 20 years with his daily cartoons in the Jamaica Observer. Brown goes after Jamaican politicians—and dancehall artists— with a vengeance, taking them to task on a daily basis, for what he sees as inept and corrupt behavior in a declining society. Wielding his stylus like an axe, he tackles the social issue of the day, which usually leaves the masses cheering him on, and the offended party(s) threatening to take him to court. —Sherman Escoffery

Sassafras

Jamaican flyer and poster designers have developed their own unique visual language over the years. The most accomplished of these is Denzil “Sassafras” Naar. His work was recently featured alongside Limonious in Al Fingers and Shimmy Shimmy’s Art in the Dancehall gallery show, as well as in the Miss Lily’s-published book Jamaican Dancehall Signs.

Taj Francis

Inspired as much by Japan as by Jamaica, Taj Francis is one of JA’s most promising young artists. Expect to see this leader of the new school make his mark in the coming years, and follow his work via his (regularly updated) Tumblr.