Manbo Bonbóm

Date2017

MediumMixed media and sequins on stitched canvas

Dimensions54 × 54 in. (137.2 × 137.2 cm) Framed Size: 55 1/2 × 55 1/2 in. (141 × 141 cm)

Credit LineDC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Art Bank Collection

Object numberDCCAH2018.009

ClassificationsPaintings

Locations

Currently Not on View

DescriptionThis painting reflects the Caribbean celebratory way of life, its exuberant tropical landscape, its people and their traditions. My artwork witness and reaffirm an esthetic that responds to an African-Caribbean taste that is predominant in the decorative elements of our popular traditions and celebrations. For instance, the chromatic excess and the integration of shiny elements of the different sized sequins in my paintings inevitably point to the popular masked characters in the Caribbean festivals and to the flags of Haitian Voodoo. Specifically, the scene here depicts a group of bodies in a dynamic display of eroticism through a combination of figuration and abstraction; their postures of disengagement, spectacle and parade, together with their display of rhythms and cadence, reflect the sensual melodic debauchery distinguished in the Caribbean way of life.