For someone who has never set foot inside the Caribbean’s premier ‘School of Art’ or been schooled in any of the many art centres of the world, you would be hard-pressed to detect this when you examine his work.
Thirty years after he first took his art to the streets of Montego Bay as a 28-year-old, he still leaves audiences spellbound, capturing their imagination while transporting them to his canvas with each precise stroke of his brush.
Such is the calibre of Stafford Schliefer, one of Jamaica’s finest repositories of art. A self-taught painter, he delights in abstract impressionism which he executes in water acrylic, watercolours, oils, collages and drawings.
It would not be an overstatement to say that Schliefer has raked in accolades of the highest order having had endorsements from the likes of former Prime Minister Michael Manley, who has gifted his works to world leaders including the late iconic anti-apartheid fighter Nelson Mandela and former US President Bill Clinton.
Schliefer has also won the admiration of his contemporaries; and faithful followers of the craft never miss an opportunity to take in his interpretations of life through his social commentary pieces.
occasion to ask the gallery’s curator for some of the big names that turned out on opening night and which might somehow have been missed. Schliefer’s name immediately surfaced among the impressive craft masters, which included the likes of the Barry Watson clan.
The prolific painter recently reminded why he continues to hold pride of place with art enthusiasts based on an exhibition titled ‘Potpourri’, which closed out his 2013 productions.
Held at the breathtakingly beautiful Belcour Lodge in Irish Town, a stone’s throw from his own studio home, the easy-going artist mounted 28 pieces of new works. The collection was wrought with depth and the maturity of a man who had come full circle.
Seamlessly moving among his guests on that breezy afternoon in Christmas, he indulged with anecdotes about each piece that had held their attention.
First up at piqueing my own interest was ‘Pocomankunnu Dancer’. It wasn’t just the artist’s uncharacteristically bold use of colour but also the vivid interpretation, which, complete with its rum-toting masked dancer and Schliefer’s extraordinary ability to tell stories about his culture, simply took you in.
Schliefer later shared the “dichotomy” of that rendition, expressing how dead scared he was as a boy of the Jonkunnu dancers who also made their scary but compelling presence felt at Christmas.
The collection was wrought with depth and the maturity of a man who had come full circle.
Several other pieces had guests mulling over them for some time and conversation reached a crescendo when the somewhat disturbing, ‘Man Who Hung his heart on a Christmas Tree’ – an acrylic on cotton masterpiece – took centre stage.
In the mixed collage, ‘Annie Palmer and the Butler’ and ‘Annie Palmer and the Stable Boy’, Schliefer artfully used lace and satin-gloves to denote the oversexed mistress of Rose Hall – the work was pure intrigue with a hint of the erotica of old plantation life.
‘Pickney Masquerade’, ‘Hellshire’, and ‘Mento Musicians’, were also just a few of the other culturally-themed renditions displayed.
Boasting an impressive résumé, Schliefer has received Certificates of Merit from the Jamaica Festival of the Arts Commission in 1970 and 1972 and a High Commendation Award from the Institute of Jamaica in 1971 the year he mounted his first solo exhibition. He has exhibited at countless art shows both at home and abroad, his last one being in April 2012 at the Mutual Gallery in Kingston, done in collaboration with master painter Alexander Cooper.