Leulan Bodden knows how to make the best of what nature has to offer when it comes to cutting costs and recycling in constructing artful designs.
His one-man art exhibition, featured at the Cayman Island National Archive in November, features Caymanian heritage and culture painted on coconut fibre.
The three black and white paintings with one spot colour describes Cayman seafaring years, as well as how the natives made their living from the land and the mode of transportation used in earlier times.
The painting with the man on a donkey illustrates a well-known local in the District of Bodden town who found much pleasure in riding his donkey everywhere he went. Another painting illustrates Cayman fishermen at sea on the hunt for the big catch, while the other shows a father handing down the tradition of planting crops to his daughter.
“I am not the artist to go buy a canvas from the store, but like to make something that has character to it. It is much richer that way,” Mr. Bodden said. “Nature has a way of respecting itself in a very generous way, but we humans have not adapted that way and learned to utilise what nature has to offer.”
Mr. Bodden has always stressed that art from ordinary objects can provide an interesting reminder of the things around us we sometimes take for granted. These objects may be transformed in ways most of us might never think of.
The exhibition will be on display throughout November. Mr. Bodden said if the exhibit is well-received, his works may remain on display into December.
For his artworks, he uses different materials, such as driftwood, cement, acrylic and tree bark.
While doing this he enjoys Cayman’s pristine scenery to form the backbone of his arts from which his inspiration comes.
Mr. Bodden said his works are for sale.
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