Art Off the Main, the ground-breaking exposition showcasing Caribbean art returns to New York City’s Metropolitan Pavilion  North, 110 West 19th Street, October 2- 5, 2008.

In its fifth year, Art Off the Main has served to change public perception of Caribbean art, transforming the widely-held view which equated Caribbean art with tourist curios.   Art Off the Main has brought to the American public, the broad spectrum of Caribbean art ranging from the realist to the surrealist, the traditional to the modern, the intuitive to the experimental, and in media ranging from traditional materials to new media.

Art Off the Main is produced by Loris Crawford, the Caribbean-born visionary, founder and Director of Savacou Gallery, and a pioneer in the promotion of Caribbean art. In explaining the impact of Art Off the Main, Crawford says  “when we launched the fair five years ago many thought that there would be very little interest in Caribbean art.  The farsightedness of this vision has been affirmed by the increased interest in Caribbean art among leading art institutions. The Brooklyn Museum curated   a major exhibition in 2007 and three other New York museums are collaborating on another major Caribbean art exhibit for 2009.”
 
The Fair’s  artists  have included Caribbean masters like  Wifredo Lam, and Kapo,  contemporary giants like Manuel Mendive,  Edourd Duval Carrie and Francois Cavin, as well as  accomplished Caribbean artists living in the United States such  as  Bernard Hoyes, Escoffery, Robert Reid, and Eric Girault and Basil Watson, son of Jamaican Master painter, Barrington Watson and Francks Deceus, recently  included in the list of top 100 New York artists.

Highlights of Art Off the Main  includes Paint it Pink, the Opening Night Gala, Thursday October 2, 6-10PM  This gala hosted by Raqiyah Mays, co-host of Kiss FM’s morning show,   raises  awareness of breast cancer in young women and women of color, with ticket sales benefiting  the Young Survival Coalition(YSC), YSC is a community of young breast cancer survivors  seeking to educate the public, and the medical, research and legislative communities on the issue of breast cancer in women 40 years old and under.

General admission to the show is $17, of which $2 will be donated to Haitian relief; admission to Paint It Pink is $50.  For tickets or additional information, contact Crawford Billings Associates, Inc., P.O. Box 1659, New York, NY  10276; 646-438-9958 or visit artoffthemain.com.