Kerwin Ebanks opened his new show at Butterfield Bank on Thursday, 3 November, with a selection of his Cayman beach-themed acrylic-on-canvas paintings.
The artist said that he had met up at the Ogier awards with curator David Bridgeman who had offered the space. “I decided to work in a smaller format; there are a total of nine paintings themed around the beach. It’s titled Edges, pushing the edges of my own creativity and at the same time it is about the edges of our Island. All these activities take place on the edges of the island.
“They were painted this summer over a total period of around three months. All are for sale except for a tribute to my cousin called All My Troubles Drift Away. It’s good to see it on walls after sitting on easels for the last three months. I am very appreciative of Butterfield for opening the space up to the public and they do an excellent job of supporting the arts.”
Kerwin tells Weekender he’s got another exhibition coming up shortly – Wort they Salt – which features pieces at four different restaurants starting on Friday, 18 November. But we’ll tell you more about that in due course, fear not!
Snapshot of Cayman
Sheree Ebanks of Butterfield thanked the crowd for supporting the opening night where they enjoyed canapes and drinks from Mise en Place. “We are proud to be able to showcase talents like Kerwin… my favourite piece is Blowholes – I used to drive past them three or four times a day.”
David said the exhibition had come together by selecting pieces from the original 30 that Kerwin had shown. “What is interesting about Kerwin’s work is that in 30 or 40 years time you will look back and get a snapshot of how Cayman is now. Everything on the corridor is a snapshot of his life, we can all relate to it; how you relax right now is a very current theme that runs through his work and it is what makes it different.
“It’s not normally something a lot of artists pick up on but he does and that’s what makes it special.” David said that the exhibitions change every three to four months and that he scouts Cayman for emerging artists. “We have had Caymanians who have gone off to college in the UK to study fine arts and we have exhibited them. It is to give artists a chance to learn how to exhibit and how to put their exhibition together.
“It is a way of helping them critique their work and get a chance to step back, look at their work and progress from there. It is a helpful thing for them.”
copy courtesy of the Cayman Compass