Nassau, Bahamas - Amos Ferguson, Match Me if You Can, a film by
Karen
Arthur and Thomas Neuwirth about the late Bahamian intuitive artist,
Amos Ferguson has won the
First Look Best Feature Award from the Bahamas
International Film Festival which took place in Nassau from December 1 -
4th, 2011.
Amos Ferguson, Match Me if You Can,
pays tribute to this highly spiritual Bahamian intuitive artist known
for his brilliantly colored paintings of island ritual, fauna, flora
& scenes from the Bible. The documentary explores the life and
work of the “Picasso of Bahamian Art,” from his meager beginnings in The
Forest, Exuma, as one of seven surviving children who worked the family
farm, to America as one of the original ‘contract’ workers picking
fruit in the fields for American men away at War. Returning to Nassau,
he began to paint in his 40’s, using shiny house paints to create simple
shapes and quirky subjects with vibrant Caribbean colors.
He painted the Bahamian
stories following in the tradition of the ‘girot’ or African
storyteller, later to become the most significant & prolific
Bahamian artist ever. His paintings hang in museums worldwide & art
collectors internationally honor him in the front ranks of the
outsider-art genre. On camera interviews with Amos, friends &
family, are interwoven with archival photographs & films,
illustrated by his paintings on loan from collectors as well as from his
own personal collection. “No man can teach me what God teach me,” Amos
said about his art, “I paint by Faith, not by sight. Match me if you
can.”
“AMOS FERGUSON, MATCH ME IF YOU CAN”
Edited by Scott Hancock
Original score by Tony Silva.
Featured music by Ruppa Pumpum & Fred Ferguson
Produced, directed and photographed by
Karen Arthur & Thomas Neuwirth
Learn more at the filmmakers website: http://www.artistsofthebahamas.com
