Curtis Talwst Santiago
Dingolay: painting without limitations
5. – 17. 8. 24
Über den Kurs
In Trinidad and Tobago, “dingolay” refers to any activity undertaken with spontaneous, joyful, and carefree abandon. It assumes a disposition of pride, an absence of calculated or cautious self-awareness, a desire to be provocative (but not offensively so), and results in the freedom conferred by an intent focus on the inner logic of the activity—whether dance or music. In all senses of the word, it requires one to give oneself entirely to the activity and in such a way that onlookers are either drawn into the activity themselves or judge it as evidence of madness. Originating from the French colonial heritage of the twin islands, it refers most literally to that which is flung about in a crazy or carefree fashion.1 Through the music and movement of Carnival, participants will explore painting without a plan’s limitations. Understanding that the practice of painting is serious, Curtis invites participants to be liberated in their approach, explore the unknown and create a divergent body of work.
Participants are invited to bring works in progress or undertake new works relevant to their current practice. They can bring materials from their studios but also reclaimed items for inspiration or incorporation into their work in class. Curtis is adept at integrating found items into his work and encourages participants to utilize various media in the painting process. The Dingolay approach may be applied to either figuration or abstraction, whichever is part of the practice.
Participants will also be invited to contribute to a collaborative painting as part of the class. When their work becomes rigid or stuck, they will go to the canvas and free-form paint. This collaborative artwork will become costumes for a planned dance party as part of the open studios.
During the two-week course, we will collaborate to foster an exchange of ideas and hold regular group and individual feedback sessions.
For more information on the concept of “dingolay,” please see: “From Dingolayin’” by Eric G. Flett, https://jrichardmiddleton.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/flett-dingolayin-published-chapter.pdf.
1.See Mendes, John Cote ci Cote la Trinidad & Tobago Dictionary; Lise Winer, Dictionary of the English/Creole of Trinidad and Tobago. Though not entirely responsible for the definition of “dingolay” developed here, I am indebted to both authors for their work preserving Trinidad's language and culture, of which the term “dingolay” is a part.
Information
- Venue
- Festung Hohensalzburg
- Date
- 5. – 17. 8. 24
- Teaching Language
- English
- Requirements
- All skill levels are welcome. The class will feature daily musical selections, and participants will be expected to participate in expressive movement activities.
- What to bring
- Materials they are familiar with within their practice. A variety of reclaimed materials. Bring items with a variety of textures as well as unique objects. A work or works they are ready to take in a radical new direction or a work they are stuck on.
- Maximum number of participants 20
- 20
- Participation fee
- 670 Euro (reduced 495 Euro)
Curtis Talwst Santiago
Curtis Talwst Santiago, born 1979 in Edmonton, Alberta (CA), lives and works in Munich (DE). An accomplished singer and artist, Santiago’s synesthesia attends to multiple modes of expressions and sensory experiences. Santiago notes that if he listens to certain music, “there’s a certain type of drawing I’m going to make because of the rhythm, the sonics.”
Carnival and its inherent history and pageantry are continued inspiration for him: from his first childhood trip to Trinidad, the island from which his parents emigrated in the late 60s – seeing friends and relatives transform themselves for Carnival; the morning light as it played across his family’s clay-streaked faces, the rising sun activating the life and energy of J’Ouvert, the festival’s first day. Curtis, his friends and relatives celebrated their lives, triumphs and struggles, and honored their ancestors. He writes, “I realized that this is my chorus; this is my ad-lib; this is the moment I can keep coming back to and expand upon.”
This mixing of time, space and artistic traditions opens doors in Santiago’s work for the past, present and future, the known and the mythic. In fact, Santiago has spent many years in Europe studying paintings in museums, working in Portugal in particular.
His work places the viewer in a space of contemplation and interaction, in dialogue with knights, nobles, poets, painters, dancers and regular folk, giving us a chance to examine ourselves, what we can become, and where we come from.
Early in his practice he studied as an apprentice of Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun. He has exhibited internationally at venues such as The Drawing Center and The New Museum, New York, NY; Yale University Art Gallery, The Eli and Edythe Broad Museum at Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI; the Institute of Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA; The Pérez Art Museum Miami, FL; Arizona State University Art Museum, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada; Osage Gallery, Hong Kong, and various others. His works are in the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Canada, the Kadist Foundation, Studio Museum, Harlem, the Nevada Museum of Art and Lenbachhaus, Munich, among others.
Santiago was included in the SITE Santa Fe SITELines.2018 Biennial, Casa Tomada, the inaugural 2019 Toronto Biennial of Art in Toronto, Canada, and featured in the 2018 and 2022 Biennale de Dakar in Senegal.
Website
Exhibitions
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2026 (upcoming) Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA), Costa Mesa, CA (US). 2024 A man not in the mood for salsa, Martina Simeti, Milan (IT). 2023Artissima, Torino, Nir Altman Gallery, Munich. Moving through Burning Haze, Cooper Cole Gallery, Toronto, CA. Joyvasted, Nir Altman, Munich. Mas a Play, Capsule Gallery Shanghai, Art Brussels, Brussels.
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024 Drawing Now Art Fair, Paris. Art Basel, Honk Kong. Frieze, Los Angeles, CA (US). Felix Art Fair, Los Angeles, CA. V1 Gallery, Copenhagen. 2023Mickalene Thomas – Portrait of an Unlikely Space, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT (US). Poetry of the Evident, Galerie Droste Düsseldorf (DE). Crafting Resitance, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ (US).
Publications
Daniel Milnes, "Curtis Talwst Santiago at Nir Altman", Art Viewer, March 16, 2023. https://artviewer.org/curtis-talwst-santiago-at-nir-altman/
