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Brian
Wong Won
With
eighteen Carnival-inspired solo exhibitions to his credit
including acclaimed shows in South Florida and London, it is
easy to understand why the media and critics call Brian Wong Won
the Carnival artist.
The
Trinidadian artist has been making mas for a decade, probably
the only painter in the region to make the depiction of Carnival
his raison d’etre.
Since his
first solo show Pandemonium in 1996, where the painting titles
were written in French as a tribute to Carnival’s ancestry, the
artist has allowed the melee that is Trinidad Carnival to direct
his gouache-on-paper creations.
But what do
you expect from a man who grew up a stone’s throw away from the
bacchanal, in a suburb called Woodbrook, where many mas camps
call home and where the madness starts on Carnival Monday and
Tuesday. Masqueraders usually assemble in one of Woodbrook’s
beautiful squares before storming the capital and dingolaying
through the city streets. Over three decades of mas have passed
in front of him, from Minshall’s Paradise Lost to Lil
Hart’s Anthony & Cleopatra.
Wong Won’s
Carnival experience began at an early age with a Midnight Robber
on Phillip Street one Carnival Monday in 1974. Carnival
throughout the years would influence and colour his visual
palette with the black of Jab Molassies, the rich red velvets of
Gownmen and the pure whites of Fancy Sailors. Growing up
surrounded by the intricate gingerbread architecture of suburban
Woodbrook only sweetened the mix.
Although
Wong Won has lived in Miami, Florida for the last 18 years, his
work maintains its Trinidadian flavour, with themes and subjects
that are diverse as the culture that bore him. The paintings are
vibrant and detailed, with colours that run the gamut of the
spectrum.
Though
representational in nature, the work takes on a different
perspective with regards to visual and aesthetic elements.
Colour, indeed, plays an integral part of the picture, but so
does the compositional treatment in the construction of the
work.
In the
paintings there seems to be no definite delineation of
foreground and middle ground, but rather a combination of
eschewed perspective that flows with the spectral sounds of pan
and calypso. His paintings possess a spirit of their own,
enthralling the viewer in a world known or unknown. Through the
tapestry of details, a story or journey of discovery may unfold,
offering up more to what is just apparent. When you view his
work you can visually experience all the sounds and energy of
Carnival leering out for your attention.
"My
paintings try to compress everything—every detail, every
emotion, the energy, and the atmospheres-everything into one.
They take the viewer back into the carnival atmosphere; making
him lost, enraptured and entangled in the intricate sea of form,
line and colour,”
the
artist says. If you played
mas the sensory voyage is even more heart felt and complete.
He works
primarily in gouache, a water-based medium that has its origins
as far back as the Italian Renaissance. A slightly flat and
chalky medium, it proves amenable to his style and nature of
painting. It gives him the clear, flat and precise colours that
he seeks. He terms his work at times as “ reality in an animated
existence”. They do not seek to be realist interpretations of
events at all, but in fact have a far different purpose.
Wong Won’s
work is part of several corporate collections, such as CLICO,
BPTT, AT&T, Scotia Bank, Pfizer Pharmaceutical, the Government
of Trinidad & Tobago and the National Museum of Trinidad &
Tobago. His work has also been featured in BWIA Caribbean Beat
Magazine, MACO Magazine, Upscale Magazine, Caribbean Travel &
Life and the Latin American Bureau publications.
-Sonja
Sinaswee.
BWIA Beat
Magazine Jan/Feb 2005
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