Untitled (Construction Scene)
Departing from the idyllic representations of island life for which he is renowned, Construction Scene employs the familiar subject of everyday labour to formulate a compositional scheme that juxtaposes the angular, geometric forms of breeze block and cement mixer with the languid shapes of sky, cloud, and the solitary profile of a silver thatch palm rising up in the distance. Painted in the late ‘80s, Long’s work further encapsulates the rapid transformations that left an indelible mark on the Cayman landscape during the period in question.
About the Artist
Charles Long
b. 1948
Born in West Africa, Charles Long grew up in Swaziland and England, where he attended Farnham School of Art. He settled in the Cayman Islands in the late 1960s and became a founding member and first secretary of the Visual Art Society. Long has been dubbed a “chronicler of our times”, a phrase that became the title of a 2002 retrospective of his work at NGCI. Other key exhibitions include the Santo Domingo Biennale (2003) and Carifesta X in Guyana (2008). Long’s highly collectable work forms part of the permanent collections of NGCI and the Cayman Islands National Museum. NGCI exhibitions include the solo show Charles Long – Chronicler of Our Time (2002), Portrait of an Artist (2003), All Access (2015), Mediating Self (2017), Tropical Visions (2019), and Island of Women: Life at Home During our Maritime Years (2020).
