Kieshia Cooper has been an artist all her life, but will host her first solo exhibition from March 29-April 14 at Kinetic Mas Camp, Alberto Street, Woodbrook.
The exhibition is called An Introduction to Electromagnetic Art.
She has been part of many joint exhibitions over her 30-something years, but this is her first solo show, thanks, in part, to the large band’s mas camp.
[caption id="attachment_1008166" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Kinetic Mas Ltd bandleader Peter Samuel wants to expand the use of the mas camp throughout the year. - Photo by Sureash Cholai[/caption]
Its bandleader Peter Samuel wants to expand the use of the camp throughout the year. He hopes it morphs into a space known not just as the home of the Kinetic Mas band, but as an incubator for young, upcoming and unknown artistes.
He said, “From 2020, just before covid, when we got the mas camp we decided we had to do something with it outside of Carnival and, that way, if we can do something with the camp, we keep it vibrant.”
The space’s lighting and layout already had the set-up of an art gallery, he said.
This made it much easier to help Cooper host her first exhibition.
[caption id="attachment_1008175" align="alignnone" width="685"] The Symbol -[/caption]
“From talking to artists, at all levels, if you are a young, upcoming artist and you want exposure, it is almost impossible to go to one of the more established galleries.”
Samuel said he understood galleries need to do this, as they make their money by selling art for a commission.
“If you have someone coming in and you don’t have a name or a following, you have nothing to get. I have heard the plight of a lot of young artists wanting to showcase their work, and it was something we thought about.”
Cooper and Samuel met on the night of the Senior Kings and Queens semifinals at the Queen’s Park Savannah this Carnival.
Their meeting reads like a cosmic rom-com; she liked the band’s King costume – Creatio Ex Nihilo – The Eternal Source of Light Divine – and told Samuel; they spoke about art and mas; and he invited her to show her work at the camp.
[caption id="attachment_1008177" align="alignnone" width="1024"] TITLE: 396 -[/caption]
The second-placed King costume reminded Cooper of her own artistic work.
Samuel hopes this initial step by the camp will be seen by young artists – poets, writers, artists, even mixologists – as a sign that it is open to fostering creativity.
He said it would not be taking a commission from what Cooper sells: “What we are charging her is just to offset electricity and the running of the space.”
Cooper, who has exhibited one-off pieces at different galleries over the years, thinks her first solo exhibition is happening at exactly the right time.
In addition, it opens on her birthday, March 29, and closes on her daughter Mya Archie’s birthday, April 14.
Largely self-taught, Cooper did art at St Dominic’s Convent, San Ju
