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Michael Escoffery
United States
ART REVIEW
Artists are born with their talents intact.  Nurturing exposure to appropriate environments and early training are not quite as certain.  Born in Jamaica, Michael Escoffery had the good fortune to be the son of intellectuals whose interest in his future made it possible for him to pursue his proclivities.  His parents were students of the celebrated artist Edna Manley, wife of a national hero and mother of a Jamaican Prime Minister.  Escoffery considers himself an expatriate still intangibly connected to his birth land.  Educated and trained in the unique matrix of African and European cultures that make up the Caribbean Islands, Escoffery’s mission is to create a symbiosis of this cultural heritage and the late 20th century art, as did Wilfred Lam in the mid-20th century.

Escoffery’s subjective itinerary follows an eclectic tradition in the manner of late 19th century artists like Edgar Degas, whose genres varied, but remained a constant source of pictorial content.  Believing “there is no absolute visual reality, but rather the coexistence of the [ambiguous] and the real in all we perceive”, Escoffery continues to explore all media and styles for visual connections that link his experiences with the illusionary complexities of American contemporary art.  His pictorial content is used as a medium for the manipulation of stylistic formula; inventions to be exploited for his own purposes.  It is from this vantage point that his engaging intelligence made it possible for him to use the content of topical issues, and the isms of the late 20th century styles, with impunity.  The results are visible in the non-figurative Apartheid, 1989 and Malcolm X, the 1991 series in which Escoffery creates a searing commentary on racial attitudes with his art.  Desert Storm, inspired Stars & Stripes of 1991.  The series, based on the American Flag, is ingeniously configured and coupled with icons used to challenge its original symbolism.

Compassion has taken form in figurative works and self-portraits, particularly, a probing 1989 image in which Escoffery’s piercing eyes seek refuge behind a compositional arrangement of vertical and diagonal crossbars.  The visual dynamic created by the positioning of a small black square and the blackened vertical plane containing his features creates a continuum of repression and impelling need to break out.  “Windows of the Mind”, 1989, is a reflection on memory.  The work incorporates three nudes behind a scrim of overlapping translucent planes that partially conceal, but do not hide, the emotional bifurcation of the time and involvement.  Yet Escoffery, with equal sensibility, softened by a mood of repose, displays the touch of the poet in the serene portrait on paper, of “Josephine Riley Matthews”, 1990.

In 1994, Escoffery explored the visual potential of imaging technology developed for the Internet in two series, “Jazz Musicians and Portraits”.  A diversionary style for Escoffery, it was inspired by ‘time’ – the sequence of resolution that engaged and impacted on the artist’s eye.  In “Diva”, 1994, the face evolves from squares creating a photographic image.  His fineness in exacting the juxtaposition of color and shape remarkably captures the facets, jewel-like quality of au courant processing.  The Artist claims non-conformity by resisting the limitations of stylistic formulas, but his remarkable and prolific achievement contradicts his modesty.  His eclecticism is a directional force constantly prompting him to paint as his whim directs.  His personality reveals a sensitivity rarely seen among artist of the late 20th century.

Marilyn Becker
Professor, Art History
Lynn University, Boca Raton, FL

AWARDS
    “The Caribbean American Award” voted one of the “100 Most Influential Caribbean Americans 2012”
    University of the West Indies, Vice Chancellor’s Achievement Award 2011
    U.S. Navy Artist of the Century
    The Michael Escoffery Day, New York, New York
    N.A.A.C.P. Black Achievers Award
    Fin de Siècle Artist, Lever House Group
    Maska International Gallery Living Legend Award
    Citation for Excellence Manhattan Borough President 1996
    Citation for Excellence Manhattan Borough President 1997
    Citation for Excellence Manhattan Borough President 2002
    Proclamation from the New York City Council 2003
    Proclamation from Westchester County Board of Legislators “Michael Escoffery Day,” Westchester County, New York
    Distinguished Service Award (Westchester Democratic Committee)
    Consul General’s Award (New York, 2007)
    Certificate of Merit —Jamaica Consulate 2008
Selected Permanent Public Exhibitions
    The Hague International Courts – Netherlands
    Firmabirk, Gmbit, Nurtingen Stuttgart, Germany
    Nurtingen Town Hall, Stuttgart, Germany
    Istron Bay Hotel, Crete, Greece
    Virginia State University, Blacksburg, Virginia
    The Jamaican Consulate, Toronto, Canada
    The Jamaican Consulate, New York, New York
    Embassy of Jamaica, Washington, D.C
    Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jamaica
    University of the West Indies (Mona Campus Jamaica)
    Sun Life Insurance Company, Toronto, Canada
    Jamaica High Commission, London, England
    Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kingston, Jamaica
    Jamaica Tourist Board, Miami, Florida
    Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts
    Virginia State University, Blacksburg, Virginia
    Musee de la Commander d’unet, Paris, France
    National Breast Cancer Committee, Washington, D.C.
    Macy’s Corp., Pentagon City, Virginia
    Friend Enterprise Ltd., New York, New York
    City Council Building, Toronto, Canada
    M.R. Beal & Company, New York, New York
    Embassy of Jamaica, Beijing, China
    Jamaica High Commission, London, England
    Curry and Associates, Silver Springs, Maryland
    Montefiore Hospital, Bronx, New York
    United States Supreme Court Building, White Plains, New York
    Thirty United States of America Embassies around the world
Selected Permanent Private Collections
   The Rt. Hon P.J. Patterson, Former Prime Minister of Jamaica
    Hon. Richard Bernal, Former Ambassador of Jamaica to the U.S.A.
    Hon. Robert Brown, Major, South Orange, NJ
    Hon. David N. Dinkins, Former Mayor of New York
    Ms. Roberta Flack, Internationally Renowned Artist
    Nelson Mandela, Former President of South Africa
    Rev. Al Sharpton, Civil Rights Activist
    The late Dr. Betty Shabazz, Wife of the late Malcolm X
    HRH Prince George, Crown Prince of Servenia
    Hon. Edward Seaga, Former Prime Minister of Jamaica
    Hon. Howard Cooke, Governor General of Jamaica
    Hon. Margaretta St. Juste, Former Consulate General of Toronto, Canada
    The late Hon. Michael Manley, Former Prime Minister of Jamaica
    Hon. Una S.T. Clarke, Former Council Member of New York City
    The late Hon. Kay Baxter, Former Consulate General of New York
    Dr. Julius Garvey, Son of the late Marcus Garvey, New York
    Hon. Samuel Bea, Jr., New York State Assembly Member
    Dr. Trevor Forbes, New York, New York
    Dr. Dudley Jackman, New York, New York
    Hon. Charles Rangel, Congressman, New York
    Hon. David Jefferson, Prime Minister Barbados, West Indies
    Hon. Gordon “Butch” Stewart, Former Chairman, Air Jamaica
    Hon. David Gallop, Barbados, West Indies
    Hon. Judge Sam Walker, Westchester, New York
    Revlon International
    Ivan Ffriend Enterprise, New York
    Maya Angelou – Educator, Poet, Writer
    Honorable Ernest Davis, Major of Mount Vernon
    Honorable Sam Walker, Judge of Westchester County, New York
    Cecile Sutherland
    Dr. Basil Bryan, Former Consul General, New York, New York
    Anthony Johnson, Ambassador to the Jamaican Embassy, Washington D.C.
    H.E. Wayne McCook, Ambassador to the Jamaican Embassy, Geneva, Switzerland
    Genieve Brown Metzger LLD (Hon), Consul General of Jamaica, New York
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