Nelson young is considered a senior lion in the art world - a devout Rastafarian, and heavy mystic, Young is one of the most seasoned artists in Belize. He's shown in Europe, Mexico and all points in between - but now he's back in Belize City showing at the Image Factory. The somewhat retiring Young has descended from his tower of paint in Caye Caulker for a rare one man show. The work is, as usual, stunning, and the artist in his eternally mercurial prose told us about that mysterious force called inspiration:
Nelson Young
I want to portray us, Belize. The past, the present, the future. And I want not only to communicate to Belizeans but to communicate to the world about Belize because the prosperity of all nations is the union with the world and communication and art is just like literature, it is a way of communication, to cause people to see our accomplishments as civilized people. From day to day the inspiration of an artist is different and it's very mystical in the sense that sometimes it has its own nature and its own dominion and you only cooperate with it and other times you dominate it, you know what I mean? Sometimes I go to the canvas and I don't got no vision at all, that means that the picture will be dominating me. Other times I go, I have full dominion over the picture, I go schik, schik, schick and I know what I am doing but I always depend, still, on the experience and the ability of skill, because it is skill that mek you mek art.
The exhibit will run for a month at the Image Factory.