‘The colours are different now ...’
Roadside artist returns after a decade
OVER A decade after he rose to prominence, thanks to his roadside art gallery, the roadside artist returns to the place where it all started, better, more experienced, and a more focused artist.
And suddenly, people are starting to remember the joy they felt when they first saw this talented artist in a little shed, a few metres from the busy North Coast Highway in Drax Hall, St Ann, painting and exhibiting piece after piece of exquisite Jamaican masterpieces for the world to see, one way or the other.
His presence alone was an attraction; his work, totally another. It’s all back now. There’s no shed. But there’s a car. And a sign that reads GS Timeless Contemporary Art. He’s on a different property now, but a mere 15 metres or so from his original spot.
It was June 22, 2013, that The Gleaner highlighted the presence and works of St Mary-born artist Gary Briscoe.
Sadly, not too long after the story was published, he vacated the spot, leaving a hole in the hearts of art lovers who would sometimes stop by just to watch him paint, if not to buy a piece of his work. Many cars slowed down, many cameras clicked, just to get a shot of the artist at work by the roadside.
No one knows how things would have turned out if he had remained there all this time. He’s back, not to talk about what could have been, but to give art lovers another chance to pay homage to a truly talented local artist.
“The colours are different now. Notice, they’re very vibrant. People really love those. They come here and feel energised and motivated by it,” Briscoe told The Gleaner in a recent interview as he opened up on what has transpired since he closed shop.
“There has been growth. You know, you have to evolve, and as you grow, you make adjustments, and you come to appreciate things more. While I loved the art back then, you keep learning new things, new styles, and you meet new people; and so, I’ve grown.
“I took some time out to do some more research and more creating, and then I found my niche, a style of art that I’m comfortable with, which is contemporary and abstract. I still do portraits, but I’m focusing more now on contemporary pieces and abstract. That is what I’m working with right now.”
INSPIRATION
Now 41, the self-taught artist can boast about being an artist for over three decades as he started painting at age 10, after he started drawing some time before that.
Kevin ‘WAK’ Williams from the United States, Voka from Austria, and Barrington-Watson from Jamaica are the names that have inspired him in some way over the years.
Briscoe says there was never a dull moment during that 10-year period he was away from Drax Hall.The calls kept coming, and he sold a lot of pieces through his presence on the hotel circuit.
But he’s getting older, he admitted, and now has to work “smarter” and focus more on his own creative energies instead of mainly portraits.
“Now I’m back here, continuing where I left off, and anybody can come and get a piece of art, both Jamaicans and visitors alike.”
“The response is still good. When people don’t see us, they miss us; I say ‘us ’as I have a great partner by my side who also motivates me to work.” That partner is his wife, Sheree. “Sometimes when I don’t feel like painting, she pushes me to do it,” he said of his spouse.
She helps in other ways, too, by assisting in priming the canvas and setting up the equipment to get the work going. Together as Gary and Sheree, they have created GS Timeless Contemporary Art to take their art to the world.
You won’t get two of the same pieces from this team.
“We always do original pieces. We don’t like to do two of the same, and we try to move away from prints, so it’s all original,” Gary says.
“But we also do customer exclusives,” Sheree says, making her input. “If they come and don’t see what they want, they can tell us what they like and we help them create that piece.”