Giving back to the arts

DALE RAMIREZ is not your typical artist but he is an artist, nonetheless. Ramirez’ art is seen in the ideas that he is able to take and develop into a tangible thing.

One of his “pieces”, so to speak, will be on display as the Loftt gallery which opens today at 63 Rosalino Street, Woodbrook. The gallery opens at 7 pm, displaying the work of well-known artist Che Lovelace.

The Loftt sits above the popular Woodbrook hangout for the artistic community, Drink Lounge and Bistro.

“The Loftt was established as a more focused continuation of what Drink Lounge and Bistro downstairs has been doing for the last ten years which is to highlight local art,” said the 37-year-old restaurateur and, now, gallery owner, in a phone interview with Newsday.

Ramirez’s place sees “a very healthy flow of local art from notable and up-and-coming artists on the walls.” He said, in that vein, he decided to create a space that “would be exclusively for that kind of thing.”

The Loftt will focus on saleable art because “when art is sold, artists are fed, basically,” Ramirez said.

Being above the lounge, Ramirez hopes it will “open up the gallery environment to an even younger and newer market of people and to people that don’t typically go to an art gallery.”

Ramirez hopes to accomplish, among others, opening the “gallery experience” to a wider section of people, demonstrating to youth that a career in art is possible and showing and building the work of up-and-coming to mid-career artists. He also hopes to have at least six major exhibits per year of “notable, well-known and very well-established artists.”

Although admittedly, there has always been “just a circle of people who would go to art galleries and exhibits and actually purchase art” this does not mean that TT people are art illiterate, he said.

Ramirez said, “TT people are intrinsically art literate coming from the Caribbean. We have the blood running through our veins but the art gallery experience has always been something that is kind of mystical and removed from the general public.”

He believes that “there is room for more exposure (to art galleries) so that people can have a deeper appreciation for a painting.”

He also wants the Loftt to reach out to art students. Ramirez said, “Students in high school and art classes, there is a very small percentage of them that think that they can be a career artist. And there is nothing wrong with being a career artist and you can make a living off of it but no one actually tells them that.

“One of our focuses would be to find them, young and to push for the thing that they really want.”

Although he is not a visual artist, Ramirez has always had an appreciation for local art and its importance in society. Over the years, I have collected some pieces I am proud to be able to purchase and to be able to hang in the restaurant.”

Loftt is also Ramirez’ way of giving back to the stream of people who have supported him since opening in 2008.

Lovelace, 49, being the gallery’s first exhibitor said, “The exhibition happening at this particular place came about from the fact that this gallery is an initiative of a friend of mine who runs the space downstairs. He has always been quite supportive of the arts and I have always liked the energy of the space.

“When he told me was doing a space upstairs, I thought that would be a good fit for my energy and the way that I approach my creative endeavours.”

Lovelace has been painting since the late 80s but graduated from art school in Martinique in 1993. Today’s exhibition showcases Lovelace’s recent paintings.

For this exhibit, “I think we are going to be showing ten large-scale paintings and ten paintings in a range of subject matter. I tend to have a kind of variety of subject matter, loosely grouped around human figures...some sort of landscape inspired paintings...,” he said.

Galleries like the Loftt, he said, is giving voice to a new generation of artists. “I feel there is a new generation of artists seeking to make work and to show their work. To have a dialogue. Over the last few years, I have seen a push in that direction.

“I teach in the art programme in University of the West Indies (UWI) so I see a lot of potential artists and I have a lot of dialogue with artists coming out of that programme.

“When I look around I see a lot of independent art spaces popping up around Port of Spain and outside of Port of Spain and that is a very good sign that there is a younger generation determined to show their work,” he said.

Like Ramirez, Lovelace believes that TT and Caribbean people are art literate because of events such as Carnival. “Some people may have presented art as slightly over-specialised, even elitist or have not encouraged a wider audience to participate in the arts but I think people here are art literate because I feel people have a strong sense of colour and design. You just have to look at the Carnival arts to know that we are a very creative people and we respond in fact to a creative life...”

While, he said, he feels art has not been presented in a way that is inclusive sometimes, having younger spaces like Loftt and people who encourage art “will get a lot of support and people will be happy to interact with the arts.”