Issue link: https://www.balharbourdigital.com/i/1525926
C O U R T E S Y O F B A H A M A R G A L L E R Y A N D A R T C E N T E R Contemporary Bahamian art is delivering the unexpected as it defies the stereotype of island art. That's the message stressed by John Cox, executive director of arts and culture for Baha Mar, the Nassau luxury resort that's home to Rosewood, SLS, and Grand Hyatt hotels. Cox should know, and not just because the resort boasts an impressive collection of more than 2,500 pieces of original Bahamian art and curates two highly respected commercial galleries. He's a preeminent local artist himself, having exhibited his paintings and assemblages in galleries around the world. Here, we catch up with Cox for insight into the island's growing, buzzy art scene. Artist John Cox, Baha Mar's executive director of arts and culture "Macro, Motion, and Moments" exhibition on view at The Current, Baha Mar Gallery and Art Center An insider's view of the surprisingly complex, increasingly influential Bahamian contemporary art scene with Nassau-based artist and curator John Cox. BY DON NICHOLS beyond the landscape What surprises people about Bahamian art today? I'd say the range of mediums and languages and disciplines that Bahamian artists use in their practice. We have artists who are abstractionists and paint like Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, and we have artists who paint landscapes who are like Neo-Impressionists. We're more complex than what people imagine. A lot of our artwork for many, many years propped up romanticized spaces—beautiful landscapes and sunsets—and that art is beautiful and is certainly part of our reality. But contemporary Bahamian art has evolved and gotten more complex and delves deeper into the fabric of our culture. It now speaks the whole story in a way that I think people really appreciate. They might see art about Bahamian justice, gender equality, coastal erosion, post-hurricane life, or global warming, for example, and people conscious of those types of things find that art interesting and compelling. BALHAR B O U RSH O P S .CO M