Jamaican born artist and master visionary, Bernard Stanley Hoyes ( www.BernardHoyes.com ) has always painted – powerfully.  Over the decades, his visual images have seared our sight and pierced through to the soul with vibrant appeal.  His selection of colors and paints leap, dance, shout and vibrate off the canvas.  Ancestral echoes, moans, hallelujahs and laments call out from images possessing a life of their own within the realm of his creations.

Hoyes’ has recently been selected as one of eleven local artists chosen to represent their various cities with artwork in support of the “How Sweet the Sound” national choir competition sponsored by Verizon Wireless.  The selection is further testimony to the magical essence behind not only his art, but the man behind the art.
 
“How Sweet the Sound”  is a competition that celebrates three key pillars of African American culture:  music, community and church.  Hoyes’ piece, “The Choir Give Thanks” was selected based on his innate ability to capture the core context of the three themes. 
 
“Bernard Hoyes possesses such a wonderfully unique gift.  His work exudes a sense of warmth and depth that literally evokes music.  You can hear his paintings! We are so excited to have him represent Los Angeles in the competition.  He is truly an example of  ‘how sweet the vision!'” offers Veronica Williams, art buyer for GlobalHue, the ad agency for “How Sweet the Sound.”
 
Hoyes considers himself a contemporary painter, working from an intuitive space. His paintings and graphics draw from culture-related scenes that are spiritually based. From a stream of consciousness and memory Hoyes invokes the spirit of his African ancestry. The gathering and celebrating aspects are apparent in his imagery and are infused with vibrant color, rhythmic dancing and instruments of sound. These compositions record and celebrate the glories of life and culture of the African Diaspora.
 
Bernard Stanley Hoyes was born in Kingston, Jamaica. As a young boy he was already demonstrating artistic abilities observing the works of local painters and carvers.  When Hoyes was trotted off to live with a great aunt living in rural Jamaica, during his formative years, he was exposed to the revival cults: its ceremonies and rituals, which have had a lasting impression on his art.
 
His formal art studies began at Junior Art Centre at the Institute of Jamaica. At age 15 he left Jamaica for New York City. His art studies continued at the Art Students League and the Vermont Academy. A heady combination of his drive to excel at art and the influence of the civil rights movement placed Hoyes at the helm of propelling the Academy to institute social and cultural programs. Upon graduation he was the first recipient of the Frederick Stanley Art Award and saw the launching of the school’s first formal arts department. When Hoyes attended an alumnus reception some years later he felt pride in seeing the new edifice housing the art department. He earned a Bachelor in Fine Arts in painting and graphic design from the California School of Arts and Crafts in Oakland.
 
A man of vision and indomitable spirit, he has made numerous contributions to art and community, entrenching himself in the melting pot of Los Angeles and on the global playing field. He was chosen for 366 Days of Black History Migrations, a 2008 calendar celebrating influential immigrants in the development of black culture worldwide and was represented by his Marcus Garvey oil painting, the original of which is housed at The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York City.
 
He developed electrolyte etchings, a technique that replaced the use of toxic acids. His 2006 solo exhibit, “Kensington Press Chemical Revival,” was a testament to this new process. During the “Rebuild L.A.” effort of 1992, Hoyes, in an attempt to bring revitalized energy to scarred, firebombed locations in the city
created a series, born of rags, entitled “Apparition of Healing Spirits.”
           
Exhibition highlights include Art Museum of Americas, Washington,D.C.; Caprice Galerie, Berlin; Belair House,London; 626 Gallery, L.A. and Palm Springs Desert Museum. Collections hang at Capitol Records, Alcan Aluminum Corp., Montreal and Air Jamaica.
 
Hoyes has a majestic ability to mine the traditions of an old and complex culture and merge it with the new.  His celebration of traditional African religion and spirituality continues to find universal appeal, stunning audiences worldwide.  Oprah Winfrey, Natalie Cole, Steve Harvey, Keenan Ivory Wayans and the National Urban League are among his collectors.
 
“I am overjoyed to have been selected to represent our City of Angels for the “How Sweet the Sound” national choir competition,” admits Hoyes.  “Sound and sight together are wonderful representations of praise, and I am deeply honored.”

The Jamaica Tourist Board will feature Bernard’s work at a special exhibit entitled “Emancipation Day” on Friday, August 1, 2008 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m at the M. Hanks Gallery, 3008 Main Street, in Santa Monica, CA.