Galleries

Corridor Gallery
334 Grand Ave | Brooklyn, NY 11238
February 26^th– March 26^th, 2017
Opening Reception | Sunday, February 26^th, 2017 4-6PM

Grand Salle Gallery & Annex
Tom Adams Financial Center | Spry Street, Bridgetown Barbados
March 8^th-12^th, 2017
Opening Reception | Wednesday, March 8^th, 2017 6-9PM

New York, NY (January 19^th, 2017) — Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation (RPAF) and the Caribbean Fine Art Fair (CaFA) are proud to announce the opening of My Home is Not Your Backyard. Curated by Oshun Layne, this exhibition will be a dual venue experience at The Grand Salle Gallery and Annex (Bridgetown, Barbados) and Corridor Gallery (Brooklyn, NY).

The Caribbean is commonly associated with lush lands surrounded by endless horizons of sand and sea, a paradise to escape from the day-to-day realities of life. Infused with peoples of African, Amerindian, Asian, and European descent, the Caribbean has an alluring appeal. Through advertisements and media, tourists are encouraged to come and play in this environment as though it is their backyard, at times ignoring the rich cultural life that exists there.

My Home is Not Your Backyard seeks to create a visual dialogue that highlights the reality of Caribbean societies as opposed to how they portrayed by the media and other sources. Featured artists, Kennis Baptiste (Grenada), Gharan Burton (Dominica), Pepe Coronado (Dominican Republic), Easton Davy (Jamacia), Sophia Dawson (Jamaica), Danae Howard (Panama), Jamal Ince (Barbados), Leslie Jimenez (Dominican Republic), Melissa Matthews (Trinidad and Tobago), Charles Jean Pierre (Haiti), Moses Ros-Suarez (Dominican Republic), Sheena Rose (Barbados), and Jorge Valdes (Cuba) present a series of multi-disciplinary works that explore issues pertaining to economic and social injustice, racial and ethnic discrimination, and constraints on personal growth which many residents experience in their respective homelands, thus encouraging the viewer to reexamine the false images of the Caribbean narrative.

About Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation

Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation (RPAF) is dedicated to providing inner city youth across New York City with significant exposure to the arts, as well as to supporting emerging artists with exhibition opportunities.

Rush was founded in 1995 by three brothers: Danny Simmons, visual artist and community builder; media mogul Russell Simmons; and Joseph “Rev. Run” Simmons of the legendary hip-hop group Run-DMC. Their goal was to fill the gap that the disenfranchised and people of color faced in both accessing the arts and exhibition opportunities.

About Caribbean Fine Art Fair (CaFA)

CaFA Fair celebrates the important contribution of Caribbean visual artists and the increasingly important role that Caribbean art is playing in the international art arena. It is a curated exposition showcasing paintings, photography, sculpture, and drawings by art galleries, institutions and individual artists who will be represented.

Not only will there be works produced in the Islands and parts of Central and South America, but also by artists of Caribbean ancestry living and working in Europe and North America.

While the Caribbean region is known for its pulsating reggae and calypso rhythms, its white sand beaches and spicy cuisine, much remains unknown about the richness of the region’s cultural assets such as its writers, performing and visual artists. This, in spite of the fact that Caribbean Americans constitute a significant and growing component of America’s population and people of Caribbean ancestry have made significant contributions to the American and European cultural landscape.

The vision of Caribbean Fine Art Fair – Barbados is to become an annual exposition for the appreciation of Caribbean Visual Art and a show that captures the diversity, creativity and the integrity of Caribbean art. While the visual arts provide that central focus, Caribbean Fine Art Fair – Barbados will be combined with educational programs and stirring cultural events including music, film, theater and fashion.

Caribbean Fine Art Fair – Barbados is planned and produced by a team with extensive experience in marketing fine art; planning and participating in exhibitions and trade shows; creating and executing advertising, sales and public relations campaigns. The Expo will be marketed through a highly targeted media and direct mail campaign and through strategic alliances with community based organizations and opinion leaders.

For more information, please contact Oshun Layne at olayne@rushhlanthrpic.org