Hidden Treasure Art Magazine Yearbook 2014

IshiButcher
www.rasishi.com
Journey
mixed media on canvas
195.6x195.6 cm
2005-2010
Ras Ishi ‘Secret Diary’ series (2001-
2010) a new chapter opened in
Barbadian art history. Ishi – a wellknown
member of the Caribbean
post-colonial avant-garde – had so
far been associated with the representation
of the Black Diasporic experience.
In these works, however,
form and scale itself became the message.
These austere, black and white
paintings consist of multiple icons
and patterns, which are inverted, repeated and adjusted
in ever-changing combinations. Given the difficult conditions
under which artists like Ishi exist, the most compelling
aspect of the series is its virtually architectural scale,
and the unapologetic insistence on their own materiality.
Art Conquerors
mixed media
on canvas
129.5x129.5 cm
2005-2010
158 Hidden Treasure Art Magazine Yearbook