--"Only 10% of artists are able to devote 100% of their time pursuing their passion, craft…”
—Tafa
Henry Lowe is a Jamaican Artist. He was born August 1960 just a few years before Jamaica gained its independence from Britain in 1962 in St. Mary, the birthplace of Master painter, Alexander Cooper, b. 1934. In addition to pursuing his passion of making art, Mr. Lowe is a deep-sea fisherman and a School Teacher. His son is also an Artist
So, who is Henry Lowe the Art Maker? Where do we situate him as the postmodernist would say? Art Hedge has recently acquired a few pieces of his works, which we will gaze at to get a sense of his art making. Yes, our evidence is anecdotal; this is not an exhaustive survey of his oeuvre. However, we will use our available evidence to speculate and ponder the art and the artist.
Henry was trained at the Edna Manley School of Visual and Performance Art. And he came of age as an artist at a time that has been labeled “post-colonial”. Yet, he continues the rich Tradition of excellence established by his predecessors: Pottinger b. 1911, Huie b. 1920, Watson b. 1931, to name just a few.
He is enamored with the landscape just like Frederic Edwin Church, the Hudson River painter, who visited Jamaica in 1865, after the Morant Bay Rebellion and made drawings for the painting, The Vale of St. Thomas (See, ‘American’ Landscapes and Erasures: Frederic Church’s The Vale of St. Tomas and the Recovery of History in Landscape Painting, Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert).
The Vale of St Thomas, Oil on Canvas, 122.7 x 214.9 cm
Landscapes
His landscapes clearly establish place: you are on an Island; you see the sweeping vistas of bays (Is this the fisherman gazing at the sea?). You see bucolic scenes of country life: a few people socializing, washing clothes in the river, fishermen preparing their net, an older couple strolling in the soft light of the evening time. The landscapes show his fascination with light and are unabashedly impressionist, a-la Monet’s definition: “Landscape is an impression.”
Cones of light and the Caribbean sky mark the time of the day and the weather. The light washes over the river, the sea, the foliage and the people creating a sense of mood on the luminous canvas.
His technique is unique. It is cosmopolitan in that it channels multiple traditions: Jamaican, Caribbean, British. There are elements of the neoimpressionists, the British Impressionists and even the late Romantics. His treatment of stones in the river and the shore has a pointillistic sensibility.
Conversation (“Evening time”) Oil on Canvas, 18 x 15 in
Down by the river, Oil on canvas, 19 x 15 in
Abstract
Henry Lowe paints more than landscapes. Abstract Fish, perhaps inspired by one of his morning deep water fishing trips, is a dynamic, energetic Pollock-like work. White paint is splattered and dripped on to the canvas, interacting with yellow, and black forms obscuring and revealing a fish. The feeling is the artist at play, free.
Abstract Fish, Oil on canvas, 30 x 38 in.
So, this man is a versatile and talented Art Maker.
He is a keen observer of his surroundings. He is fascinated with the wonders of light and nature, rural Jamaica, and its country people. He can leave the solidness of the landscape and enter the realm of the abstract. I suspect he relishes the freedom of practicing his craft en plein air and in studio.
Henry has been arduously practicing his craft; he is at the top of his game. As an artist he is a gatherer of evidence; his landscapes capture a disappearing rural Jamaica.
I witnessed how Mr. Lowe socialized his students with the values of polite, academic Jamaica. In fact, his work, “Conversation” reflects his interest in how rural Jamaicans socialize. This piece is reminiscent of the Jamaican Folk Song Evening Time which captures the essence of how the people in the countryside transition from a day of toiling.
Evening Time
“Come Miss Claire take the bankra off you’ head mi dear, Evening breeze a blow…Evening time, work is over now is evening time…to …walk ‘pon mountain, talk ‘pon mountain…feel the evening breeze…”
Click the link to hear Evening Time by Susie Qsie AKA SusueMikado:
Click link to hear Ernie Smith’s version of Evening Time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lraf4AtDvQQ
No one can fully predict the lasting power of the artist works, yet we can name him through his students (Winston Clarke, Henry Grandison) and his peers. To that end, we have included the work of his peer and friend the accomplished Royan Grey. Mr Grey’s landscapes are more in line with the painterly Hudson River School, as in the below:
Peekskill Yacht Club, Oil on canvas, 19 x 15 in