We Jammin'
Curated by Antonius Roberts
October 1, 2023
B.-C.A.U.S.E., the Bahamian art collective, first burst onto the exhibition circuit with great éclat three decades ago, startling art cognoscenti with a novel genre—master fine artists collaborating to make improvisational music in the manner of jazz musicians but with riffs from acrylics, paper and canvas, rather than from horns, keyboard, bass and drums. Their joining together to “jam” on the same surfaces was surely a serendipitous anomaly in a world mostly defined by towering ego and closely guarded technique.
The members were six men: brothers Stanley (Stan) and Jackson Burnside, the founders, John Beadle, Brent Malone, Antonius Roberts and Maxwell (Max) Taylor, all noted for their outstanding individual portfolios and some already acclaimed as master artists of The Bahamas. Compatriots in nationality, in important aspects of ethos and in contributions to the development of art in their homeland, the group painted together in varying combinations to produce between 1991 and 1998 several substantial exhibitions. The work was avidly received, lauded by critics and collectors—in the local art world, it defined the decade. With the end of the decade, B.-C.A.U.S.E. was shelved, and, sadly, the new millennium would record the passing of Malone (2004) and Jackson Burnside (2011).
The year 2015 brought an unexpected development, pregnant with delightful possibilities—the revival of B.-C.A.U.S.E., now comprising Stan Burnside, Antonius Roberts and John Beadle. Here was a syzygy of stellar artists, who, through the years since B.-C, had demonstrated a commitment to advancing Bahamian art and taking it beyond sociopolitical constraints and geographic boundaries. The trio’s proven mastery gave the members of the art community, who were privy to this powerful new alignment, good reason to believe that their collaborative output would be as cosmic as that of the first iteration of B.-C.A.U.S.E. Since its inception, the grouping had shattered convention, eschewing stasis, giving no quarter to any fixity of expectations, which the local gallery-going crowd may have harboured, drawing on what they knew of the oeuvre of the component artists. The fundamental definition of B.-C.A.U.S.E. of yesteryear was the delightful, willing and willful mutability of artistic virtuosi who refused to surrender to any constraints save for those imposed by the demands of uniqueness and excellence of expression. One could reasonably expect an exciting fresh development from B.-C.A.U.S.E. in its 2015 incarnation.
The "We Jammin'" collection, created by remaining artists Stan Burnside, John Beadle and Antonius Roberts needs no crutch from figuration. The line, sometimes dizzying, sometimes austere, often sinuous and always absorbing. This is deliberately paused, awaiting the grand revelation in breathless anticipation to have the luxury of a longer study to plumb the depths. On one score, there is no need to pause—the artists have expanded a brilliance that has always been provided great substance for contemplation and abundant reason for national pride.
Written by Patricia Glinton-Meicholas