Romeo Carty with Ruby Bute at her Silk Cotton Gallery home. (photo Robert Luckock)
MARIGOT--Ruby Bute will be presenting Romeo Carty’s art exhibition “Natural Mystic” this coming Sunday, November 25, at Silk Cotton Grove Art Gallery, in Friar’s Bay. It will be his first exhibition at this gallery and about 25 pieces will be on display.
He has previously exhibited his work at “Art Invasion” in June 2000 at Antoine’s on Front Street, Philipsburg, which he described as his first exhibition, and has also attended Ruby Bute’s art classes. He works with pastels on black canson paper, the paper especially for pastels.
“My subjects tend to be historical mostly, also cultural, landscapes, buildings” he says. “Painting was always in me from a very young age. I had an eye for it. I think I get my inspiration from what I feel and what I see. And I take pictures of what I see that attracts me.”
Art is a lifelong hobby for Aruba-born Carty but for those who don’t know him, his day job is as a long-time security guard at the new government building. But he wears other hats too; instructor for bodybuilding, aerobics, body shaping, Tae-Bo and more.
“Some of these other jobs I have been doing for 40 years, but five years ago I had to drop them as my working hours were getting longer and longer, sometimes up to 16 hours at a time.”
Carty is also an avid stamp collector and hopes to have an exhibition of those soon. “I have about 500 of them. It’s good to preserve them because they’ve more or less disappeared. We don’t use them anymore.”
Said Ruby: “I’m proud to say as a teacher that Romeo is one of the artists that never gave up. He’s doing great. I taught him to work with pastels. It’s medium that doesn’t leave students discouraged. They are easy to work with and you can render a beautiful work. He held on to that ever since.
“When he said he wanted to hold an exhibition, I was surprised because I didn’t know he was still painting. I was so happy. That’s what gives the teacher satisfaction, and when I saw his work, I was amazed to see how far he has come.”
Art lovers and collectors are encouraged to view Romeo Carty’s exhibition from 4:00pm to 8:00pm on Sunday.
