Out of darkness

Protectors: Artist Damian Moore with his acrylic on canvas painting, Protectors. PHOTOS BY CARLOS MENCIA
Protectors: Artist Damian Moore with his acrylic on canvas painting, Protectors. PHOTOS BY CARLOS MENCIA

Lifting himself out of a place of darkness to a more optimistic mind set, artist Damian Moore revisits the themes and styles he explored over the years in his upcoming exhibition, Perspective.

Moore, originally from Guyana, said he had been in a dark mood for a while as several friends, mentors, and older family members died, leaving him feeling a sense of despair. “I don’t feel my family prepared me for this part of my life. The impact on your life that they made... there is this weird emptiness and wishing for more time to maybe say the things you should have.”

In addition, he said earlier this year his beloved aunt died and he returned to Guyana for the funeral and to help pack up all her belongings. “Her whole life was reduced to those few boxes. It brought my life into perspective – what I’ve been doing over the years, my work, all of that. It brought things down to one narrow point and made me realise I should take more opportunities as an artist.”

Perspective – Art of Damian Moore is scheduled for May 4 to 18 at Uncorked Wines and Spirits Ltd in Port of Spain.

Moore said he would show at least 15 pieces including paintings, mixed media pieces, and Christmas ornaments/keepsakes. Some would be new, made specifically for the exhibition, and some would be from a previous group exhibition called RaSa, where he explored pain and suffering.

He said Perspective would be a compilation of different things that told his story, and he intended to revisit and delve deeper into subjects he had only touched on before. “We all have different experiences as artists and I want to be raw and honest with myself.”

He added that he usually created a series of angel paintings at the end of the year to signify hope and overcoming obstacles. He felt this was necessary and he would paint a few for the exhibition.

Uncorked: Tamas, one of the paintings that will be on display at Uncorked in the Prospective exhibition from May 4 to 18.

Uncorked, he said, gave him certain freedoms he did not have at a gallery, such as not having to frame his pieces, allowing him to show his work in its rawest form. Additionally, he said, exhibiting at galleries could be pricey, unlike at Uncorked. “It puts me back in a place where it was just fun to work and do my art and not worry about having to sell. It takes the pressure off so I can just tell my story through my work.”

Moore said at the moment he was working on the exhibition’s main piece, a blue devil. “For me this piece is about my main passion, which is Carnival. Then the devil and the fire has this freedom, which I miss, and I want to come back to it. To me it’s just bringing more perspective to where I should be, going back to the time art was a way for me to go into this world of creativity and exploration.”

Moore told Sunday Newsday he used to visit TT every year for Christmas but in 2007 he stayed for Carnival. By that time he had a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Guyana but mas became his first passion.

“I stumbled upon Brian Mac Farlane’s mas camp and fell in love with it. Carnival was everything that I saw myself training for, especially with Mac Farlane whose stuff was artistic and creative. I wanted to push my artistic skills into something more movable and tangible so seeing his work was amazing to me.”

Moore got a job at the mas camp, learned how to sew, and how to manipulate fabric. The more he trained and improved, the more he got into fashion. Therefore, he enrolled at at UTT’s Fashion Academy.

Although he has a BA in fashion design, he said he did not see himself as a designer. However, he said he loved several aspects of fashion, including illustration and social media which, he said, started to translate to his paintings. He also created handmade bags, fashion accessories and decorations over the years.

Comments

"Out of darkness"

More in this section