Cooper's artistic jubilee

Chester Francis-Jackson, Contributor

In the wake of Jamaica's Independence jubilee celebrations recently, a lot has been said and written about the absence of a comprehensive plan by the Government to commemorate our 50th Independence anniversary. Implicit in the critique is the abrogation of individual, corporate and/or civic responsibility and/or sense of nationalism that in other cultures would see a natural outpouring and embrace of such a historic intervention.

Fact is, while the majority of the population looked to the elected leaders for the big-bang, vis-a-vis the Grand Gala celebrations, the opportunity was there and the country ripe and pregnant for individuals, institutions, and/or businesses, to step in and offer to coalesce in supplementing the national celebrations by way of harnessing and/or showcasing their own creativity and contribution to national development.

Sadly, very few corporate entities, individuals, businesses and/or organisations sought to capitalise on the opportunity afforded by this unique historical juncture. Instead, for many, it was a case of the same old lack of leadership and/or initiative, by those who bleat like sheep for everything - from handouts to waivers - while giving very little back, and complain loudest about the ills befalling the country, its structures and support systems, while like ostriches, ignoring their role in the new social and economic order that they are helping to fashion.

Gladly, all is not lost, and, not surprisingly, it's the arts and the artistes who continue to lead in providing an alternative to Government-sponsored and/or packaged entertainment or contextual perspective on our 50th year of Independence.

As it was in the case of the National Dance Theatre Company, who staged their 50th anniversary season, coinciding with the national jubilee, it is now artist Alexander Cooper who has stepped in to provide yet another perspective of our 50 years as an independent nation, in his current exhibition, now mounted at the Mutual Gallery and Art Centre, over there at the National Commercial Bank Oxford Road complex.

Now, Alexander Cooper is a celebrated son of St Mary who was one of the early students of the Jamaica School of Art. He went on to paint himself a prolific career as one of Jamaica's foremost, respected and admired artists, whose work, over the years, has withstood the vagaries of style and fashion, and as a master painter, with a distinct rural flavour.

Alexander Cooper, in an exhibition titled '50 Years - Then and Now', showcases some 33 pieces that are easily the Independence narratives of the season, in that the works chronicle the passage of time, in some instances, while capturing the essence of the transition and intervening period(s) since Independence.

Indeed, the exhibition serves to frame the journey so far into independent nationhood, in an all-inclusive dialogue that chronicles the journey in architectural, cultural, intellectual, political and social passage of the people.

In staging this exhibition, Alexander Cooper and the Mutual Gallery and Art Centre have managed to stage an artistic coup, in that, the exhibition adds dimension and texture to the official jubilee celebrations in a way and manner that escaped the official celebration and dialogue. For this, gallery curator Gilou Bauer and the master painter are deserving of the kudos being bestowed on them by those who have availed themselves of a visit to the gallery to bask in the ongoing dialogue on our trek to a more perfect evolution.