IN FINE STYLE: THE DANCEHALL ART OF WILFRED LIMONIOUS – Miami

ART WEEK MIAMI — HVW8 Gallery, in collaboration with One Love Books, presents In Fine Style: The Dancehall Art of Wilfred Limonious, the first U.S. exhibition of work by the prolific Jamaican illustrator, Wilfred Limonious (1949–1999).

The exhibition includes reproductions of work from the early 1970s through to the mid-1990s, spanning three key phases in Limonious’ career: his newspaper comic strips, his illustrations for the publications of the Jamaican Movement for the Advancement of Literacy (JAMAL), and his distinctive artwork for the burgeoning 80’s dancehall scene in Jamaica. The exhibition was produced by One Love Books to accompany their August 2016 book release that explores Limonious’ life and work.

Wilfred Limonious began his career producing comic strips for the Jamaican daily newspaper, The Star, with cartoon characters such as Amos and Chicken becoming particularly popular. During the 1970s, Limonious worked as the in-house illustrator for Jamaica’s national literacy program, JAMAL, before going on to produce a large body of work for the Jamaican music industry, illustrating hundreds of LP jackets and record centers for labels such as Jammy’s, Power House, Studio One, Techniques, Ujama and Midnight Rock. Vibrant, humorous and often outrageous, Limonious’ unique style perfectly embodies the spirit of the music inside the sleeve. Today his art lives on, providing the inspiration for the artistic style and typeface of Major Lazer among others.

Limonious remains an important part of Jamaica’s cartooning tradition, and the father of what has become known as “dancehall art”. However, despite being widely recognized among reggae and dancehall circles, his illustrations are relatively unknown in the wider art world.

Moodie, Early Years (Moodie Music, 1974), re-photographed by Alex Bartsch on Downhills Park Road, London N17, 41 years later.

HVW8 and One Love Books will also be exhibiting a preview of photographs by Alex Bartsch from his project Covers: Retracing Reggae Record Sleeves in London. After researching various reggae LPs and twelve-inches from his record collection, Bartsch re-photographed more than 40 sleeves in their original London locations, holding them up at arm’s-length to blend in with their surroundings, decades later. Presented in this way, the images represent the passing of time, and provide a fascinating insight into the history of reggae music in London, inviting the viewer to rethink the relationship between the city and its musical heritage. A Kickstarter campaign to publish the photographs in a book runs from October 25th to December 6th, 2016.

In Fine Style: The Dancehall Art of Wilfred Limonious is curated by Al “Fingers” Newman and Christopher Bateman and arrives in the U.S. following a U.K. tour of galleries such as South London Gallery, New Art Exchange and the V&A. Here it will be presented at Neo-Global, a larger group show hosted by _space Caribbean, featuring curated works from the contemporary Caribbean creative community. Other artists include Marlon James, Matthew McCarthy and dancehall signs from the collection of Maxine Walters.

The exhibition will feature limited-edition prints by Wilfred Limonious as well as other artists inspired by Limonious. Bateman and Newman will be signing copies of In Fine Style: The Dancehall Art of Wilfred Limonious on Saturday, December 3rd.

Opening Reception: Thursday December 1st, 6pm–11pm

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Gallery Contact

Tyler Gibney / Co-Founder

tyg@hvw8.com

Media Contact

Jenny Ames / Public Relations

jenny@hvw8.com

In Fine Style press release