National Biennial to open December 12

Jamaica's premier national art exhibition, the National Biennial, will open its 2010 showing at the National Gallery of Jamaica (NGJ) on December 12 at 11 a.m. The guest speaker will be Kay Osborne, general manager of Television Jamaica.

The National Biennial in 2004 succeeded the National Gallery's Annual National Exhibition, which had been held since 1977. In its current form, the National Biennial consists of an invited section, to which artists with an already well-established track record are invited by the NGJ to submit work; and a juried section which is open to all Jamaican artists and all artists living in Jamaica and selected by a panel of judges representative of major stakeholders in the local artistic community.

panel

The 2010 panel of judges includes: Petrine Archer-Straw, Milton Harley, Khalfani Ra, Kay Sullivan, Petrona Morrison, David Boxer and Veerle Poupeye.

All works in the invited and juried section have been created in the last two years and the National Biennial thus provides a broad overview of current trends in Jamaican art, from the convent-ional to the experimental. The 2010 National Biennial features 80 artists, of which 39 were invited, while the others entered through the jury system. They are represented by work in a variety of media, including painting, sculpture, collage, assemblage, installation, ceramics, photography and video. Many of the participants are well known while others are newcomers, and most are based in Jamaica, although several overseas-based Jamaican artists are also represented. As has become customary, the Biennial also incorporates small tribute exhibitions to artists who have been awarded Musgrave Medals in the past two years and, in the 2010 Biennial, the 2010 Silver Musgrave Medalists in Art - Gaston Tabois and Gene Pearson - are honoured.

awards

Artists participating in the National Biennial qualify for the prestigious Aaron Matalon Award for the best entry by a single artist and may also be considered for acquisition awards. The Aaron Matalon Award is granted at the discretion of the NGJ's Exhibition and Acquisition Committees and will be announced at the opening of the National Biennial on December 12.

The opening function is free and open to public. The 2010 National Biennial will continue until March 5, 2011.