Soundings in Fathoms #9 and #14
Hydes produced two abstract bodies of work in the mid-1990s that directly explore the iconography of Cayman’s maritime culture. The Soundings in Fathoms Series (1994-95) brings an autobiographical resonance to this collective history, drawing on the practice of measuring ocean depths (evident in the scattered numbers that allude to the depth markings of nautical charts) to represent metaphorically the artist’s own mining of his personal memory. Using the heavy texture of a paper prepared with a primer, the works resemble fragments of a preciously guarded map, recalling the relic of some ancient civilisation or children’s stories of buried treasure.
About the Artist
Bendel Hydes
b. 1952
Bendel Hydes is universally celebrated as the founding father of Caymanian art, being the first Caymanian to acquire formal fine art training and the first to receive international acclaim for his work, while also helping to cofound both the Cayman National Cultural Foundation and the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands. Hydes studied at Liverpool College of Art and Canterbury College of Art in England and subsequently received his BA from Clark University in the United States in 1976. He has mounted solo exhibitions at the Commonwealth Institute, London and the 23rd International Bienal de Sao Paulo, Brazil, and his work has been featured in numerous publications, including Caribbean Art (Thames and Hudson: 1998) and A-Z of Caribbean Art (Robert & Christopher Publishers: 2019). Hydes’ work was included in two of the most prestigious surveys of Caribbean art of the past three decades: Carib Art (1995–1996) and Caribbean Visions: Contemporary Painting and Sculpture (1995–1998), which travelled to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Works by Hydes are held in the collections of the Cayman Islands National Museum and the Cayman Islands National Archive, as well as numerous private collections internationally. Solo exhibitions at the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands include: Soundings (2003), Circumnavigating the Globe (2012) and Bendel Hydes – A Retrospective (2019) — the latter a comprehensive survey of the artist’s 50-year career. Additionally, Hydes’ work has featured in numerous group exhibitions at NGCI, including: Founded Upon the Seas (2012), Metamorphoses (2014), Upon the Seas (2017), Cross Currents – 1st Cayman Islands Biennial (2019), Tropical Visions (2019), and Seascapes: Maritime Art from the National Collection in Little Cayman at the Little Cayman Museum in 2020.
