POCOMANIA:AFRICAN INSPIRED RELIGION

Beginning in the early sixteenth century and continuing, officially, until he mid 1800's millions of Africans were brought to the Americas to work as slaves on sugar, tobacco coffee, and rice and cotton plantations. The African's presence has left a vast and indelible imprint on the religious structure of the Americas. In many countries of the Americas enslaved Africans and their descendants "resurrected, applied and preserved" the sacred practices their African homeland. Much has been written about retention of African religious practices in Cuba, Haiti and Brazil, but much less about such practices in Jamaica. Religion is omnipresent in Jamaica. The Guinness Book of records documents Jamaica as having the most churches per square mile of any country in the world. A predominantly Christian country, with large groups of Baptists, Anglicans and Roman Catholics, Islam, and Judaism and other religions are also represented on a smaller scale.

Some syncretic religious movements have also emerged, basing their beliefs on Christianity and West African traditions. In Jamaica, Revivalism is an authentic Afro-Christian religious folk forms that evolved during the eighteenth to nineteenth century. Among them is Pocomania, largely viewed in traditional religious circles as a vehicle of rebellion in colonial times. Pocomania which sprung up during the 1860s are churches which exuberantly fused African and Protestant performance styles, images, and traditions. The ritual meetings involve prayers, dances, and rhythmic drumming. Participants often go into a trance.

Revivalism is characterized by major ritual forms, which can be classified into two groups: firstly, street and prayer meetings and secondly rituals for specific purposes. Prayer meetings are held for different purposes and usually take the form of bible reading, singing and discussion. Street meetings are held mainly to get new members, to preach biblical doctrine.

Rituals for specific purpose are "table" or "duties" held for various purposes such as thanks-giving for a particular events, prosperity, deliverance, memorial, death and judgement, mourning, consecration pole-planting, ordination, dedication, and baptism. In Pocomania the feasting table is usually held on Sunday nights. The table is spread with fruits, drinks, bread, candles and vegetable. After bible reading and greetings of visitors, the table is "broken" at midnight, the food distributed among those present An essential part of Pocomania meetings is the tramping and the cymbals. This occurs after the singing and Bible reading section. The members move around the circle, counter clock-wise, each using forward stepping motions with a forward bend of the body. The songs that are used in revival usually vary in tempo for example hymns and choruses. Revival also incorporates lively songs that are of a local derivation, classified as 'warning' songs or non-sense songs. Singing usually takes place to the beat of the drums. These drums are the Kettle-drums or bass drums which are beaten with two sticks. Tambourines might also be shaken in the rhythm along with other instruments Revival Churches can be found all over Jamaica, particularly in the deep rural areas and in the inner-city sections of the corporate area. On specific dates, towards the end of each quarter within the year, revivalists may be seen journeying to Watt Town, St. Ann. This is one of the most popular revival meeting places.

Bernard Stanley Hoyes draws on this African-inspired religion for inspiration. According to Hoyes, "I have been a creator of art, symbols of ancestral echoes since a child in Jamaica... The images I convey symbolize a culmination of these ancestral echoes brought to classical form. They are contemporary, eternal in spirit and stand as praise to our existence --past, present and future"

Bernard Stanley Hoyes started his professional career at the early age of nine in Kingston. He moved to the US at age fifteen where he rceived formal art education and has built a solid career as a painter. Hoyes has "a majestic ability to mine the traditions of an old and complex culture and merge it with the new". Born into a family rooted in Jamiaca's revivalist church, his memories of religion and rituals have informed his artistic productivity throughout his life. His celebration of traditional African religion and spirituality continues to find universal appeal, stunning audiences worldwide. Oprah Winfrey, Natalie Cole, Steve Harvey, Keenan Ivory Keenan Ivory Wayans and the National Urban League are among his collectors.
On the spiritual significance of his visually engrossing powerfully expressive works, Hoyes explains that he paints "from an intuitive point of view," that during the process the "spirits take possession" and the ritual theme becomes dominant.

Hoyes work is praised for its masterful use of color and rhythm and its ablity to move the spirit. In Hoyes's paintings, "very little perspective is coupled with repetition and exaggeration to incorporate elements of African retention's. Field of colors are infused with primaries in harmony. These works are intuitively inspired with no preliminary sketches. Each completed painting suggest the composition and content for the next. Color becomes personified as symbolic as various combinations are used to express national as well as spiritual connotations. The movement of the dancers is captured with posing, profiling and the preservation of facial and body expression and full figured framed against each other in dramatic crescendo. To read more about Hoyes and is art visit

Contemporary African Art Breaks Boundaries

Contemporary African Art Breaks Boundaries
Exhibition of Leading African Contemporary Artists, October 2-5,2008, New York City


New York, New York, May 14, 2008 ….From October 2-5, 2008, Art Off The Main will showcase a panorama of contemporary African art at New York City’s historic Metropolitan Pavilion, 110 West 19th Street, Chelsea. Art Off The Main is an annual art fair of contemporary African, Caribbean and Latin American art which was launched in 2004 to address the substantial lack of appreciation of art from these regions. While enjoying much support in Europe, contemporary African art is relatively unknown here in the United States. Art Off The Main not only provides a platform for exposure of the artistic expressions of cultures from across Africa it also exhibits art’s potential role in promoting intercultural understanding.

For many Americans, African art is limited to the traditional wood carvings and masks, which are the work predominately featured in art shows and museums. However, Art Off The Main brings together an impressive group of talented contemporary African artists who skillfully illustrate that there is more to African art than tribal masks. This annual staging creates a venue where viewers are exposed to the less-known side of African Art and serves to educate the public about the noteworthy contemporary artwork that is being produced in Africa today. Ethiopia’s Wosene Kosrof is among the artists whose works will be on exhibit along with Ghana’s Tafa, Senegal’s Souleymane Keita and Nigeria’s Olu Oguibe and Victor Ekpuk, to name a few. These artists speak to the realities of Africa while redefining African art for both the international and native audiences.

African artists are creating works equal in quality and creativity to that of their Western counterparts. Some artists have chosen innovative abstract subject matters demonstrating that these topics and stylistic modes are not unique to Western societies and that African artists are working in new ways with new and old materials, addressing their art to a wider public. However, while many contemporary African artists are exploring new mediums and modes of expression, they still hold true to African artistic traditions which fuses visual imagery with spiritual belief and social purpose. For example in Wosene Kosrof’s paintings, “the calligraphic forms of Amharic are broken apart, abstracted, and reconfigured to create a new visual language that draws upon the artist's Ethiopian heritage while incorporating his experiences as an expatriate living in the United States” . So although African art is rooted in its native communities, it is global in impact- it empowers audiences to see beyond geographic divides and explore the multilayered diversity and complexity of a contemporary Africa.

Art Off The Main creates a greater awareness and knowledge of contemporary African art and shows the American audience that in spite of (or perhaps because of) the hardships and adversities Africa faces, its visual artists are producing a remarkable body of work General admission to the show is $17. For tickets or information, contact Crawford Billings Associates, Inc., P.O. Box 1659, New York, NY 10276; 646-438-9958 or visit artoffthemain.com

“ART OFF THE MAIN": Bringing the Outside In

“ART OFF THE MAIN": Bringing the Outside In
Innovative Art Fair Showcases Contemporary African, Caribbean & Latin American Art


New York, NY, May 16, 2008… For four exciting days, October 2-5, Art Off The Main: The African, Caribbean and Latin American Art Fair returns to New York City’s landmark Metropolitan Pavilion, 110 West 19th Street. Now in its 5th year, this acclaimed annual exposition provides curators, seasoned collectors and novices the opportunity to view and collect paintings, sculpture, photography and original prints by established and emerging artists from over 20 countries.

Despite New York City being one of the world’s major art centers and home to numerous art fairs each year, until Art Off the Main, fine art from these regions was difficult to find at a New York art fair. According to Loris Crawford, the show’s executive producer, “Art Off the Main fills an important niche in the art fair market. While there has been a recent surge in gallery and museum shows featuring contemporary African, Caribbean and Latin American art, and record auction values in the world's art capitals, the works of art produced by these artists are still underrepresented in the United States; Art Off The Main provides a much-needed annual platform for exposure”. Art Off the Main opens with Paint It Pink , a benefit reception, on Thursday, October 2, 6pm -10pm. Paint It Pink raises awareness of the issue of breast cancer and young women of color-a major public health issue in the United States; ticket sales benefit the diversity program of Young Survival Coalition, a community of young breast cancer survivors seeking to educate the public, and the medical, research and legislative communities on the issue of breast cancer in women 40 years old and under.

Friday, October 2nd to Sunday, October 5th are general admission days. The cost of admission to the Opening Night Gala is $100 and $17 for general admission. For additional information, contact Crawford Billings Associates, Inc., P.O. Box 1659, New York, NY 10276; 646-438-9958 or visit artoffthemain.com

BEYOND TOURIST CURIOS AND CARVINGS: CARRIBBEAN ART DEFIES STEREOTYPE

Fifth Annual Art Off the Main Showcases Contemporary Caribbean Art, October 2-5, At New York City’s Historic Metropolitan Pavilion North


Art Off the Main, the ground-breaking exposition showcasing Caribbean art returns to New York City’s Metropolitan Pavilion 110 West 19th Street, October 2- 5, 2008.

In its fifth year, Art Off The Main has served to change public perception of Caribbean art, transforming the widely-held view which equated Caribbean art with tourist curios. Art Off The Main has brought to the American public, the broad spectrum of Caribbean art ranging from the realist to the surrealist, the traditional to the modern, the intuitive to the experimental, and in media ranging from traditional materials to new media.

Art Off The Main is produced by Loris Crawford, the Caribbean-born visionary, founder and Director of Savacou gallery, and a pioneer in the promotion of Caribbean art. In explaining the rationale for Art Off The Main, Crawford, says, “it is the culmination of a long-held dream of staging a fine arts festival that bridges a Pan-African, Pan-Caribbean cultural identity. When we launched the fair four years ago many thought that there would be very little interest in Caribbean art. The farsightedness of this vision has been since been affirmed by the increased interest in Caribbean art among leading art institutions. The Brooklyn Museum curated a major exhibition in 2007 and three other New York museums are collaborating on another major Caribbean art exhibit for 2009. Art Off the Main has profoundly changed and deepened people’s understanding of Caribbean Art”

The artist list from prior years’ Art Off The Main includes Caribbean masters like Wifredo Lam, and Kapo, contemporary giants like Manuel Mendive, Edourd Duval Carrie and Francois Cavin, as well as accomplished Caribbean artists living in the United States such as Bernard Hoyes, Escoffery, Robert Reid, and Eric Girault and Basil Watson, son of Jamaican Master painter, Barrington Watson and Francks Deceus, recently included in the list of top 100 New York artists.

Highlights of the fair includes Paint it Pink, the Opening Night Gala, Thursday October 2, 6-10pm This gala reception raises awareness of breast cancer in young women of color, with ticket sales benefiting the Young Survival Coalition, a community of young breast cancer survivors seeking to educate the public, and the medical, research and legislative communities on the issue of breast cancer in women 40 years old and under.

General admission to the show is $15; admission to Paint It Pink is $100. For tickets or additional information, contact Crawford Billings Associates, Inc., P.O. Box 1659, New York, NY 10276; 646-438-9958 or visit artoffthemain.com

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