Artist statement
My acrylic paintings, mixed media collages, installations and reconstructions are a continuous cycle of reflection on man, his engagement with other human beings and his relationship with his environment.
I incorporate non-traditional, discarded materials and objects as metaphor for the marginalised, racialized, oppressed peoples and cultures that I seek to resurrect from destruction and near invisibility to re-engage now as art. I embrace the AfriCOBRA aesthetic to “empower” people, see their innate value and to always portray them in a positive light.
The re-use of the cast away and my other recycling efforts are attempts to tread lightly, thereby reducing my carbon footprint on the planet and also to create beauty from what some might regard as waste.
Biography
Garfield is a multidisciplinary artist who started his art career as a graphic designer after graduating from the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts (EMCVPA) in Kingston, Jamaica. He worked in several major advertising companies in Jamaica before travelling to the United States of America to pursue graduate studies.
He pursued a Master of Arts degree in Painting and Digital Media as well as an MFA in Painting at Stephen F. Austin State University (SFASU) in Nacogdoches, Texas USA. Upon completing his studies at SFASU, Garfield was awarded the Post Graduate Fellowship in the School of Art at SFASU.
He completed his Fellowship and returned to Jamaica in 2008 and has since taught at the EMCVPA, the Caribbean School of Architecture (CSA) at the University of Technology and the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication (CARIMAC) at the University of the West Indies, Mona.
Garfield and his wife Shelley immigrated to Montreal, Canada in June 2018. During his time in Montreal, he consistently exhibited his art and won several awards in various categories. He was also a member of several organisations and served as a board member of articule, “an open-access artist run centre”.
Garfield is currently the Artist-In-Residence at Harcourt House Artist Run Centre in Edmonton, Canada and is also the recipient of an Edmonton Arts Council grant, "Equity and Access in the Arts 2023". Garfield and his wife Shelley now reside in Edmonton.
