Thursday, February 12, 4-6 p.m.

Bernard Hoyes will demonstrate mono printing with

his “Rag Series” technique.

When Bernard Stanley Hoyes paints, we listen. Yes listen, because his work calls to our inner spirit, piercing spaces deep within, beckoning us to worlds and regions holy, sacred and sanctified. A creator of art, symbols and ancestral echoes, this Jamaican native possesses the power to make colors, forms, and dance, and leap, shout and vibrate on a variety of surfaces. Ancient becomes contemporary, ceremonies rings eternal and traditions manifests as new revelations.

And so it is with Hoyes. His paintings call to us, speak to us, whisper to us. The life force pulses through them. A true product of his environment, Hoyes art for the past thirty years pays significant homage to Jamaican revival culture and the backyard religions he knew as a child. As he mines the traditions of an old and complex culture, he lays it before us like a feast.

His celebration of traditional African religions has found universal appeal, stunning audiences worldwide with their depth and compelling lure. It is no wonder that Oprah Winfrey, Natalie Cole, Richard Pryor, Capital Records and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture are all amongst his collectors.

My images stand as praise to our existence, past, present and future. My challenge is to master unique compositions of spiritual significance. I desire to visually engross the viewer through powerful expressive works.

I have been painting from an intuitive point of view. During this process, the spirits take possession and ritual themes have become dominant. The common denominator has been expressions in the Painting medium. My concern with spiritual testimony, using Contemporary expressions has been the driving force that eventually established a visual voice. Of late, the works has gotten transformative.

Proof being, bringing a selection of the Revival Series Paintings to life on Stage, as an Interdisciplinary creative force, using Visual Arts, Video, Dance, African Traditional Drums and Voices as a production titled, “Se7en Paintings, a Story in Performance”. Seven of my most iconic paintings came to life on the Ford Amphitheater Stage in Los Angeles in 2012.

This was the first step into the Interdisciplinary field. New insights in my application of the Painting discipline have since emerged.

The Modernist discourse in my Paintings has evolved. Raw Materials, technology, and raw textures have appeared. Templates harkening back to the Rag Series from the 70’s, when Raw materials and graphics were prevalent in my exploration.

I am still coming from an intuitive point of view, using traditional mediums, to a unified science of all that went before, Into new methods, including neglected concepts and synthesis of varied consciousness.

Hoyes past works is vividly displayed on his website, at www.berndhoyes.com.