Caribbean Suite

RE: “The CARIBBEAN SUITE”, an on going series of acrylic paintings and digital printmaking.

Jack Cassady’s “The Caribbean Suite”, is about color, texture, heat, humidity, affluence, decadence and the Baby Boomers.

The concept for the series originated in 2005 after a visit to Cuba in February.

Jack is interested in the combination of abstraction and representation, which he has played with in a number of previous series of paintings. With the use of texture he creates an abstract background on which he then paints a realistic image, in this case a Caribbean scene, the result is a realistic image on top of an abstraction, creating a paradox, it can be a very subtle paradox or more pronounced.  The artist is mainly concerned with the viewers experience (the emotional force of pure color) and always resists the attempt to interpret his painting.  A digital image is selected from photo research of the island to be represented, it is manipulated /added to or subtracted from etc., then printed, projected, and painted.  The image is painted in very transparent glazes and the color is slowly developed through layering, creating a luminous glow to the work. This is a slow process and depending on the size can take up a year to complete.  At certain angles of view and time of day the representational image disappears/transforms/vanishes and an abstract color field of texture appears.

The digital prints are created from the paintings; the image is digitally printed with archival chromium inkjet ink, using an Epson 9800 printer on BFK Rives Paper. It is then printed with a traditional printmaking method, in this case Lithography, creating richness that digital ink can’t duplicate.

Thus far research has been undertaken in Cuba (Cayo Coco, Santa Lucia, Cayo Santa Maria, Holguin, Varadaro) Dominican Republic (Puerto Plata, Samana, Punta Cana), Jamaica (Nigril, 7 Mile Beach, Bloody Bay, Montego Bay, Ohco Rios), St. Lucia (Morgan Bay), Roatan, Honduras, Tobago, Antigua, Sant Maarten, Barbados, Curacao, Aruba