Self-taught artist seeks chance to showcase talent
Published:Tuesday | October 5, 2021 | 12:08 AMAsha Wilks/Gleaner Writer
Unsuccessful in his efforts to land a job, 23-year-old Kadeen Christie spends his days sketching portraits of popular Jamaican personalities, engaging a skill he has been nurturing since he was four years old.
Living in the poverty-stricken Manchester Lane area of Spanish Town in St Catherine, the self-taught artist told The Gleaner that his lack of exposure has been hampering efforts to land jobs, which has also put a damper on his artistic ambitions and added a strain on his meagre earnings.
Although he was successful in attaining a grade two in visual arts at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate level, he has not been able to afford tertiary studies to further develop his skills since he left Jonathan Grant High School.
“I don’t have the opportunities that other artists may be presented with because I don’t have any connections with the art world,” Christie told The Gleaner on Friday, admitting that the artistic talent that runs in his family has not been able to put food on the table or keep him financially afloat.
Despite this, the fiery fascination which was kindled as a child as he watched his grandfather create pieces similar to those he now enjoys doing has not been quelled by his circumstances.
He recalls deciding to try his hand at art after being mesmerised by his grandfather’s creations.
He would often invest much of his time working out the logistics of how to properly sketch the faces around him.
“What I would do is walk around and stare at people’s faces and study lighting and different elements and then go home and practise,” said Christie.
As time progressed, he would eventually be able to complete small portraits in a day while taking up to two and a half days to create larger ones, while making use to YouTube tutorials to improve his skills.
Christie said he decided to take his passion more seriously in 2016, and would, on occasion, try to sell his art pieces. But although he uses social media to advertise his services to create commissioned pieces, he rarely lands a gig despite the hefty cost of the supplies to practise and create his art.
“I have to put together a large sum of money to get the amount of supplies,” he said, adding that much of the supplies are not sold locally, so he has to resort to shipping what he needs.
While cheaper brands may be available, he makes the sacrifice to buy trusted supplies so the quality of work won’t be affected.
Christie remains confident that there is a market for the art, although he has not had much luck with the promising endeavour.
He lamented the fact that the struggle to make art profitable locally has caused some artists to seek better opportunities elsewhere.
“Jamaicans not supporting artists has contributed a lot to brain drain,” said Christie, whose Instagram handle is kadeenchristie_artja. “The art community is concerned because a lot of artists here can’t really support themselves.”
He is, however, pleading for Jamaicans to give him a chance to showcase his talent.
“Any help would be greatly appreciated,” he told The Gleaner.