Key Moments (36w*53h cm)

Description

Key Moments

is an ingenious work of acrylic on burlap artwork by Jamaican artist Lennox Coke. This framed, ready to hang on your wall, is a semi-abstract piece of a girl seated on a piano merging into the instrument.

Key Moments is painted on burlap, material known in Jamaica and certain parts of the Caribbean as crocus. Burlap is a woven fabric usually made from skin of the jute plant or sisal fibres.

Many labourers who worked on the plantations in Jamaica were not often given pleasant materials with which to make clothes. Some had access to cotton that was spun, woven, cut and sewn into serviceable clothing while others had to make do with clothing fashioned from roughly hewn sacking.

Being resourceful, these labourers recycled discarded sacking, fashioning them into garments that, although fairly uncomfortable, provided protection from the heat and dust. The Jamaican Maroons used similar material, honouring the resourcefulness and creativity of labourers who gained freedom.

The common use for burlap is to make sacks for carrying a lot of different things, such as cement and coffee beans. Burlap is used in other industries like art, craft, home décor, and wrapping paper.

The artist Lennox Coke has done extensive research on burlap its origin and usage through the centuries. He produces burlap pieces, such as Key Moments that are more surreal than his more traditional material. He has a deep and abiding commitment to the portrayal of Jamaican culture and lifestyle through his art. His artistic offerings are snippets of Jamaican life which he provides to the viewer as a way to experience the real Jamaica and its people.

From the parish of St Elizabeth in Jamaica, Lennox attended Thornton Primary School and Maggotty High School before relocating to Kingston to do further studies at St Gorge’s Extension. He had an initial dream of becoming an engineer but instead art found him.

Lennox had the nickname “Artist”, with his school peers looking to him creating “the next super-hero, cartoon, comic, class project…”.

After secondary schooling Lennox worked in a furniture factory restoring antique furniture. After seeing some of his graffiti work, the factory owner encouraged Lennox to study art. This led him to the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts and the launch of his artist career.

View more of this national and international awarded Jamaican artist work at: https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/lennox-coke