The winning piece: You Must Be Wondering What Type of Creature Am I by Lavar Munroe.

Published On:Wednesday, November 04, 2009

By REUBEN SHEARER

Tribune Features Reporter

THE art work as been taken down, the heat of the competition is over and one top-notch artist has emerged victorious in the Central Bank of the Bahamas (CBOB) Art Exhibition and Competition's open category.

Lavar Munroe, a 26-year-old Bahamian freelance illustrator who resides in North Carolina and has been entering the competition since high school, beat out more than 50 other artists to capture the 'The Central Bank Award'.

He has won the competition three times, and also placed second and third over the years.

The winning piece, a digital collage which was submitted for the theme 'Redefining the Portrait', is far from the ordinary.

But many of the contending pieces this year were unusual, making the judges' job of choosing the winner quite a difficult task.

"It was a long deliberating process," CBOB exhibit curator Heino Schmid said.

He told Tribune Art that the three pieces which intrigued the judges the most were done by Dylan Rappillard, Kendall Hannah, and the winner Lavar Munroe.

Lavar is believed to currently be the only artist practising this unique form of digital art, and for the most part, critics have responded favourably to his work.

Some have described it as "bright, fun, eerie (art) that really makes you think."

Lavar's piece features animals being trampled on in the background, and a frail unclothed man riding a horse wearing a coat of many colours.

Although Lavar was unable to make it to the awards ceremony, his father was excited to accept the $7,000 award on his behalf.

Speaking with Tribune Art last week, Lavar said he is grateful for the award.

He said that his piece is a self-portrait (there is a vivid depiction of his face in the piece) that reflects "humans bridging their past to a better future."

It speaks to "moving forward in life and not stagnating," he said.

Addressing the issues of life, death, family and culture, Lavar explained that he "wanted to tell a story and force a controversial conversation."

"Seeing that it's dominated by animals, I put myself in that same category. It's a question to the audience, as to what type of creature am I.

"It shows how humans and animals interact in the same space. The animals take on the role of humans, and the humans became more dependent on the animals," he said.

Lavar's method of creating the winning piece included sketching an image and then scanning it into the computer programme Photoshop CS. Using the photo editing software, he made shapes and patterns, and touched up the pictures with several Photoshop tools.

Curator Mr Schmid had this to say of the winning artist: "Lavar has been really prolific in the last few years. He always makes a clean presentation and makes sure that all of the 'Ts' are crossed in his work."

Jay Kohmet, who spoke for the judging panel, charged all of the contenders to remember the legacies of the late Amos Ferguson and Max Taylor, who both had a "solid work ethic."

The winning piece is now property of the Central Bank of the Bahamas, but you can see 'You Must Be Wondering What Type of Creature Am I' for yourself at www.lavar-munroe.com.