'Trinidad Perspective'
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Major group exhibitions 1967 Torre Abbey, Torquay (Group Exhibition) 2005 “Homage to Bob Marley” National Gallery, 1971 Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, England Kingston, Jamaica ‘Trinidad perspective’ (Three-Man Exhibition) 2006 “The Caribbean in the Age of Modernity: An New Paintings by Rex Dixon 1975 Curwen Gallery, London, England Exhibition of Photo-based works by Caribbean (Group Exhibition) artists and photographers” - co-curated with Patricia Mohammed, National Library, 1977 “Midlands Art Now”, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham Port of Spain, Trinidad and Museum of England (Group Exhibition) Modern Art, Santo Domingo. 1977 “Mid Art 77”, Dudley Art Gallery 2006 “A Suitable Distance: Impressions of Trinidad by (Group Exhibition) five artists” - Rex Dixon, Peter Doig, Chris Ofili, 1981 “Mid-Art 81”, Dudley Art Gallery Kofi Kayiga and Roberta Stoddart: at Soft Box (Group Exhibition) Studios, Trinidad, Curated by Andy Jacobs 1981 “Ikon Gallery Touring Show” - Various Venues in 2002 - 2012 “The Jamaica National Biennial” National Midlands Gallery of Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica 1982 “Sade 82”, Cork, Ireland, (Group Exhibition) 2008- 2013 Annual Summer Exhibition, Engine Room 1984 Arts Council Gallery, Belfast, N. Ireland Gallery, Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Four-Man Exhibition) 1990 Bay Gallery, Montego Bay, Jamaica (Three Man Exhibition) 1991 Galerie Malraux, Los Angeles, U.S.A. (Group Exhibition) 1992 Marpad Art Gallery, Miami, U.S.A. (Group Exhibition) 1994 “Home & Away - Seven Jamaican Artists” October Gallery, London, England 1994 Second Biennial of Caribbean & Central American Painting, Museum of Modern Art, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 1997 Third Biennial of Caribbean & Central American Painting, Museum of Modern Art, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 1997 “Black as Colour” National Gallery of Jamaica, “Tomb” Acrylic on paper, 2014 12 x 9 ins Kingston, Jamaica th th 1985 - 2001 “Annual National Art Exhibition” Thursday June 26 to July 17 , 2014 National Gallery of Jamaica James Wray & Co 2003 Grove Gallery, Down Patrick, Northern Ireland 14 – 16 James St. South Belfast, 2003 “Caribbean Realities II” Museum of the Americas, Northern Ireland, BT2 7GS Charleston, South Carolina ‘Directive’ Acrylic on paper , 2014 12 x 9 ins www.jameswray.ie ‘Trinidad perspective’: New Paintings by Rex Dixon REX DIXON: Solo exhibitions As an art student in 1967 I won first prize of 25 pounds in 1973 Midlands Arts Centre, Birmingham, England an art competition run by a local garage in Torquay. The 1974 Midlands Arts Centre, Birmingham, England theme of the show was “Transport”. I entered a hard-edged 1976 Dudley Art Gallery, England painting based on amalgamated and collaged road signs. 1977 Stafford Art Gallery, England This competition, adjudicated by Justin Knowles, was the 1980 Ibis Gallery, Leamington Spa, England only art prize I ever won, as I also never entered another 1980 Holt Street Gallery, Birmingham, England art competition since. Once the prize was announced I was 1983 Art and Design Centre, Ulster Polytechnic, accosted by a local artist, renowned for his harbour scenes Belfast N. Ireland that said to me “nice piece of design”. Of course over the 1984 Art and Design Centre, Ulster Polytechnic, forty odd years since then I have tried to make paintings Belfast N. Ireland which were not just that. 1985 Octagon Gallery, Belfast, N. Ireland The paintings I showed in James Wray in 2012 in an 1986 Bilston Art Gallery, England exhibition titled “Caribbean Edge” were gestural on the 1988 Central Space Gallery, London, England whole with varied linear elements. These lines could be 1989 Frame Centre Gallery, Kingston, Jamaica interpreted as horizon, cliff edge or just to stabilize just the Studio interior Maracas Valley, Trinidad, 2014 surface of the picture plane. The current works on show 1991 Frame Centre Gallery, Kingston, Jamaica here have converted the lines into blocks of colour working ARTIST’S PROFILE 1993 Galerie 14, Kingston, Jamaica along varied perspective levels. These paintings are Rex Dixon is a painter, trained in a number of art schools in 1994 & 1996 Grosvenor Gallery, Kingston, Jamaica horizontal or landscape format, with the gestural elements the UK. He was Visual Arts Officer at Midlands Art Centre, 1997 Via Galerie, The Hague, The Netherlands contained by the flat geometric colour. Often they appear Birmingham from 1972-1977, organizing exhibitions, 1998 & 2000 Mutual Life Gallery, Kingston, Jamaica to be seascapes or interiors, viewed through an opening. lectures, films and seminars on all aspects of contemporary 2001 Caribbean Contemporary Arts, Laventille, If one is on the inside of a building in the Caribbean one art. He taught painting as a full time lecturer on the B.A. Trinidad and Tobago is continually viewing the outside through burglar bars, degree course at the New University of Ulster, Belfast, prior 2002 Gallery 1234 , Hotel Normandie, Port of Spain, which are on every home. The art historical continuity is to teaching in the painting department at the Edna Manley Trinidad and Tobago quite plain – from cubism to late Mondrian and on to sixties School for the Visual Arts, Jamaica from 1985 to 1999. He has 2003 National Museum and Art Gallery, gesture and hard edged abstraction. Looking at the pictures exhibited extensively in the Caribbean and internationally Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago now in Trinidad before shipping them to Belfast I find them and represented Jamaica in the second and third Biennale 2006 The Gallery at Fine Art, Port of Spain, primarily oddly didactic. My wife, by the way, finds them of Caribbean and Central American Painting, The Museum Trinidad and Tobago too ordered and methodical. In a certain light they seem to of Modern Art, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. His 2007 Amrose Sable Gallery, Albany, NY be saying No Entry, Yellow lines, Turn right only, as if they work can be seen in the permanent collection of the National 2008 Softbox Studios Gallery, Port of Spain, were only road signs. Gallery of Jamaica and the Soft Box Studios Gallery, Port Trinidad and Tobago of Spain, Trinidad. His permanent studio is 5A Mountain Maybe old habits never die, or am I due to win an unsolicited 2010 “Seventeen Colours” Softbox Studios Gallery, View, Maracas Valley, St. Joseph, Trinidad, West Indies. prize. Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. Email: [email protected] 2012 James Wray and Co, Belfast, Northern Ireland Maracas Valley, Trinidad - March 2014 Saatchi Online: www.saatchionline.com/profiles 2013 “Death of Painting” Softbox Studios Gallery, Facebook: Rex Dixon Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, November 2013 to February 2014.