Sundiata's visions of the mind

BARBADIAN-BORN, TT-based artist Winston Stewart, better known as Sundiata, has spent nearly five decades painting, with an intensity and honesty that mirrors the way he lives.

Now at 75, he presents Visions, an exhibition of about 40 oil and mixed-media works. He said the idea is simple: let the pieces speak for themselves and people form their own opinions.

He is an artist who works every day, and Visions is an exhibition of things and ideas that have been occupying his mind.

“They’re just an insight into my interests, of how I perceive things and see things.

“Like most artists, real artists, your inspiration, motivation are about what is around you – visually, mentally, socially – and your response to it in the language of art. From birth, life around me, as it manifests itself, has always been my great inspiration.”

Sundiata grew up between TT and Barbados and said his pseudonym reflects his African historical identity. He later lived in and visited countries throughout the Caribbean and Europe. But despite his experience and exposure, he remains a student of the craft, saying even with 48 years of professional practice behind him, he is still learning, exploring and open.

“I’m very strong in science. I’m very strong in business. I’m very strong in sport, creativity, in everything – just like most people.

“It’s just that people do not embrace it and work at it. Everybody is looking for a simple title and simple way to go and deem success. Because really, it’s an ongoing learning experience with me.”

He told Newsday he has degrees in art, science and economics. He gained a degree in fine art at the University of Reading, in the UK, studied constructivist art in Moscow, Russia, and had formal art training in other countries. To him, the mix of fields
is neither unusual nor contradictory, but simply evidence that a creative person is capable of creating far more than what society expects.

He said degrees are useful, but they do not dictate determination and strength. That comes down to the practitioner.

Sundiata found that determination early. At 23, he decided he would become a full-time artist, even as society dismissed creative people as “crazy or gay,” and discouraged such ambitions. But he had already developed a powerful sense of self – something he has carried throughout his life – and the opinions of others held no sway over his need to create.

At the time, he was working and studying, but his creativity kept calling. He was already receiving positive feedback on his art, and so did not wait around for lighting to strike. He made it happen.

“In 1973, when I decided to go straight into art and drop everything else to the side, I did not have any doubt that I was going to survive doing this. I had already cut my clothes to suit my size. I was already streamlining things to suit. I wasn’t going in there with any responsibility or family or anything.

“I was just going in with work and expectation, and all my support systems I created were invested in that. So I wasn’t going there with the expectation that, ‘I’m going to have to have a car and a house,’ and so on. I went in there with the expectation that I would produce the work and get it exposed.”

But exposure did not come easily. Galleries refused to show his work, so he rented an old house, painted it and staged his own exhibition. He printed flyers and walked the streets, handing them out personally.

“Then I found other people like me, and we got together and created little groups. And then we went around and did that too. And next minute, then certain agencies see what we’re doing and they come on board, and we won’t give them political control over the work, because at the same time, we’re developing our consciousness.”

Opportunities abroad followed. Collectors and institutions began calling, and he took advantage of every opportunity. But even as recognition grew, he chose to keep his approach grounded, doing things quietly.

“It’s all about the art. And it must be that way. You don’t want the persona of the artist to get in the way. That is not important. The art should be sufficient and enough.”

Though his career was self-made, he admitted his art could have been influenced by a few local, regional and international artists.

"If I have been influenced by any artist, it would be some of my peers in the early 70s who are now promanent artists in the Caribbean.”

These include Bajan artists Omowale Stewart and Ras Akyem-I Ramsay, and Trinidadians Jackie Hinkson and the late Boscoe Holder. Also Renaissance artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, French visual artist Henri Matisse and French painter Pierre Bonnard.

A husband of 45 years and the father of one daughter, he still works every day on his art and, over time, it has evolved with him – from earlier realism to today’s more relaxed, expressive style. Labels such as “realist” or “abstract artist” mean little to him. He said the classification of art styles was academic, but, in reality, art is “individualism.”

Architecture, figures, still life and abstract forms are displayed across canvas and board, including aspects of TT culture, refusing strict categorisation.

The exhibition blends realism and abstraction with titles like Boogsie is Sharp, Frontline, St James Hosay, Femmes aux Mangoes and Morning Greetings.

Sundiata says he has never confined himself to any single style, category or medium. For him, art is a living thing – shifting and growing as he does.

“It is the individual doing what they do with the tools and means they have, and the art would follow how the person grows, if they grow.”

He believes art is best felt, not analysed, and speaks to the heart rather than logic or commerce. And while he appreciates those who admire or buy his work, he has never created with potential buyers in mind. He does what he is motivated to do and keeps true to himself. He is not swayed by trends or concerned with whether galleries or buyers like his work. What matters, he says, is its honesty.

But he is grateful. He has been fortunate that people like what he creates. And so, for Sundiata, the journey continues – and the learning continues.

Visions runs from December 15-January 9 at Arnim’s Art Gallery, Port of Spain.