Waldy Wows with Wire Art at CMCArts
Waldy! Waldy! Waldy! The arts community of St. Croix and the world shout your name and sing your praises for your first one-man show that opened recently in the Second Floor Gallery at CMCArts in Frederiksted.
Waldy! Waldy! Waldy! The sheer scope of your wire work is astounding. All sizes and shapes.The Men.The Women.The Birds. The Dolphins. The Elephants. The Mermaids.The Lion! Oh, my word! The Lion! That magnificent, enormous golden wire work of a Lion! King of the Jungle! Now King of the CMCArts courtyard. It sits on the grounds and astounds all who pass it by. Move over the cowardly Lion in the Wizard of Oz. Move over Simba in the Lion King. Waldy’s Lion is just as unforgettable.
Every piece of Waldy’s wire work art fills the gallery with magnificent wonder. What a fabulous scene for patrons to be engulfed by, swallowed up by, transported into your wild and imaginative world. Your creativity, your uniqueness captivates them, They are immediately abducted and wrapped in your wire world of figures and scenes. Thrown head-first into another dimension, unlike anything they know to exist in the solar system. Flung down the rabbit hole of the universe and forced out the other side, into a wondrous netherland of wire, that they float and float and float - with no direction home! Until finally, they surrender all of their known senses and spark a new vision, and commit to a new way of looking at art and the artist.
The miniature figures work so well in creating a living, almost breathable community of wire people: Unbound; Inhale; Exhale; Flexing; Free Love and Tied Togedda, make us believe that there is a little people’s world somewhere, hiding out, just waiting to be found.
Celia, in red dress, your wire homage to the great Celia Cruz, leads us to almost hear her classic “Guantanamera!” as she shakes and shimmies from the cafes along the shores of old Havana.
The miniature animals and birds of this collection yearn for a place in their own natural habitat: The Red Egret; Pelican; the two kissing Doves; the graceful Flamingo; Mr. Bunny Rabbit; the Roosters fighting; the pesky Mongoose; the two Giraffes; the fierce Rhinoceros; the Horse in pasture; and the Elephant calling out across the savannah, these tiny creatures recreate their movements in adorable style.
The wire figures set against painted backgrounds bring the outdoor scenes to life: the Kite; Shortcuts Thru the Bush; Playing Marbles; Fixing My Ride; Big Fish; and Chuking Deh Sand, all open new avenues for your many creative talents.
The lifelike figures: Deh Fish Fry; and Midnight Moko Jumbie, implant the Crucian life, past and present squarely into the viewer’s mind, adding more than a touch of yearning for the island life.
And the piece de resistance inside the 2nd floor Gallery had to be Waldy’s Mermaid Angel, delicately balanced on her wooden swing, her gold wire figure draped in aqua blue dressing, her graceful tail and sublime body swaying gently with the ocean breeze behind her. Here sits another masterpiece by this extraordinary artist. His gifts to St.Croix, to the world, indeed humble all who care to let his vision into their life.
And so it was such another wonderful night at CMCArts. Waldy himself, along with his son Kelvin provided the food, a mix of delicious ceviche: lobster, conch, octopus.
The band, Los Maestros Combo, played the sweetest of jazz and pop all night long. Howard Peters, the Band Leader, on the drums, who recently put together this group of highly talented musicians with Mario Thomas on the Bass Guitar, Javan Davis on the Keyboards, and She’Coy Jones blowing the sax. No doubt the packed crowd in the courtyard loved them. And when they played the pop standard “Sway” not only did the crowd start to sway, but it seemed like all of CMCArts started to sway, the cool blue clouds above swept everyone off their feet to the point where all of CMCArts seemed to glide gently across the waters of the Caribbean to a little wire world hideaway nestled just over the horizon.
Was that the Green Flash? Could be.
