Aug. 2 – On St. Croix at the Walsh Metal Works Gallery on July 30 and an opening reception for the "Masquerade: Prints from Nigeria" was held.
Tayo Quaye featured his unique large linocut artworks. The effect of his works, upon first viewing, reminds one of batik. There the resemblance ends. Each work is complicated by myriads of muted lines, circles, shapes, and hues, which force the eye to take a closer look. There are many themes in each work, complicated social, political, familial and other humanistic concepts are literally threaded with lines, leaving the viewer bedazzled with the incredible talent of this Nigerian artist.
While both artist Matisse and Picasso worked with the linocut medium, Quaye’s linocut artworks appear somewhat subdued as far as individual line definition is concerned, leaving the viewer to discern the boundaries of individual persons, places, and things on his own.
There is pathos and the horrors of war, but if one searches carefully enough, there is also beauty and even humor – a difficult concept to create. The concepts of political unrest, persecution, and war are prevalent in Quaye’s works, yet there is still the underlying art that is the reward of the viewer. Many of the works portray the daily lives of families.
The Virgin Islands was indeed fortunate to have had a show of such caliber by such an international artist.
Quayo’s works are in the Smithsonian, the University of London, etc. He was introduced by St. Croix resident "Dr. John," also from Nigeria.
Quaye said he was "Trying to do art seeing history the way I saw it, bringing beauty out of ugliness."
A person viewing this exhibition stated, "A show of this caliber on-island is exciting." Obviously a lot of others felt the same way. St. Croix is fortunate in having had Nigerian artist Tayo Quaye exhibit his large works here. It is also fortunate that a gallery large enough to mount the large collection of sometimes monumental sized large works on St. Croix, the Walsh Metal Works Gallery. If you missed the Quaye show, you missed a lot – a spectacular exhibition!
