S.S.s

Shifting between London and Nassau, Blue Curry extends the conversation around visual culture in both locales. How does one read a small blue portable electric cement mix- er, humming away as it stirs gallons of coconut-scented sunblock, in Liverpool, an industrial location historically complicit with the slave trade and the birth of transnational modern economic engines? The ordinary and the fa- miliar are observed in Blue Curry's work, but not always recognized in their new roles. He restages moments of exchange derived from a long history of people from places like the Caribbean, moving between narratives and making visual mischief to bring understanding to misunderstood shared histories. Consequently, one should always be a bit cautious when encountering the work of Blue Curry, which confounds and confronts with a precise and strategic composure. While often there are no titles, the descriptions of works, whether a list of items conscripted into his conceptual arsenal or the account of an action, provide sly commentary. I almost said the word "readymade." But the artist's live streaming of cruise liners' arrivals and departures transforms this common-place event to generate a critical awareness. In part, the work registers the Internet's significant role in Caribbean visual dialogues. The standard beach towel dispensed at a tourist resort or a docked cruise ship are both fair game. They are enlisted in a conversation about the history of declaring and seizing territory. The towels are now deployed in flag-hoist signaling at SITE SANTA FE to announce new arrivals or invasions of cruise liners in Nassau. Since Santa Fe is inland, maybe it is also SUVs. Both locations have shifting histories of occupation, invasion, and now, tourism.
Text written by Christopher Cozier for the exhibition catalog.