Our spring artwork release just dropped, with over 169 new artworks and 28 new artists. We thought we would take a moment to highlight and introduce new artist Idris Veitch.
Idris Veitch is a collage and digital painter born in Jamaica to a half-Jamaican, half-Nigerian family. In 2013 he moved to Japan to study fashion design at the ESMOD Fashion School in Tokyo, and upon graduating began to pursue art full-time. His work channels his own ideas about identity and culture, and have been featured in art exhibitions in Japan, Jamaica, the United States, and in private collections around the world.
Learn more reading our Q&A with Idris Veitch below, and for questions about any of the new works, please call or email the gallery.
And don't miss out...until Sunday, May 28th take 15% off all LUMAS artworks in gallery and online.
Q. Your art career essentially began while creating your graduation collection at fashion school in Japan. Can you tell us what led you to Japan in the first place?
A. I was born and raised in Jamaica where I lived until the end of high school. Following graduation, I had the opportunity to go to the United States for college, and received my bachelors in Management Systems.
I landed a job as an on-call computer technician where I spent my work days driving around the Denver metro area answering house calls to fix customer’s PCs, perform virus checks and spyware removal, upgrade hardware components and so much more. Due to circumstances, my time there was cut short and I had to move back to Jamaica. That move was a turning point as I realized I needed a career change. I had been curious about art for some time, but always thought this computer tech life was my ‘life career’. I saw an ad in the Gleaner for an evening class in Fashion Design and jumped at the chance. I fell right into it, and knew I wanted more after graduating. I had the idea to teach English in Japan where I could save in order to further pursue my studies. I had met a friend of a friend one night while having dinner who graduated from fashion school in Tokyo. I applied and was later accepted, so moved to the big city, bright lights to begin life as a full time fashion student. It was during that graduation collection where my artistic journey began.
Q. The body of work that really kickstarted it all for you was a series titled, African Masks X Ukiyo-e, that combined influences from your Nigerian roots and traditional Japanese wood block printing. Why do you think living in Japan for 7 years pushed you to delve into your own identity and sense of belonging?
A. Between being half-Nigerian with very little familiarity of that side of my family, being born and raised in Jamaica but growing up the outsider and entering my seventh year out of a decade-long stay in Japan, I reached a huge crossroad in my life where I began to question my identity. Living in such a homogenous country as Japan meant experiencing discrimination quite often. This would come in many forms such as being purposefully avoided while on public transportation, having to field off-handed, stereotyped comments and questions about my skin colour and background, to being randomly touched
by strangers. All of these factors that I internalized over the years culminated into an intentional line of cross-cultural inquiry that would dictate the direction and theme of my collection.
Between being half-Nigerian with very little familiarity of that side of my family, being born and raised in Jamaica but growing up the outsider and entering my seventh year out of a decade-long stay in Japan, I reached a huge crossroad in my life where I began to question my identity. Living in such a homogenous country as Japan meant experiencing discrimination quite often. This would come in many forms such as being purposefully avoided while on public transportation, having to field off-handed, stereotyped comments and questions about my skin colour and background, to being randomly touched
by strangers. All of these factors that I internalized over the years culminated into an intentional line of cross-cultural inquiry that would dictate the direction and theme of my collection.
Q. Can you comment from your perspective on being a black artist, how your work pushes those unique perspectives forward, as well as how many of the themes and content are universal?
A. My collages started off as a way to inquire my identity, and was later expanded to oppose the stereotypes and narrow perspectives of being black and Jamaican in Japan. As I moved away from the “African Masks x Ukiyoe” series and onto a place where my palette and themes expanded, I wanted to address the black experience, both from my perspective and those shared with others. Overall, I wanted to address themes such as sexuality, police violence and relationships. What I leave in each piece are mostly personal, diary-type entries whose contents I keep to myself. While I’m more than happy to talk about them, I try to leave them open to interpretation by each viewer. I prefer this way as I’ve come to appreciate people seeing my artwork and them expressing their own interpretation of what it means to
them. It’s resulted in very interesting dialogue and emotions that are sometimes beyond my expectations.
Q. Toronto has a sizeable Jamaican (West-Indian) and Nigerian population. Do you see yourself traveling here or other popular migrant locations to experience the diaspora in different countries?
A. I wouldn't say travel for that sole purpose, but experiencing the diaspora in different countries is one that I've always found fascinating. My first experiences start as a child where I would often visit Miami to spend time with friends and family. Many Jamaicans have been immigrating there for as long as I can remember that it’s felt like an extension of this country. I’ve also experienced this familiarity in New York City and Toronto. The most fascinating one for me was during my decade-long stay in Japan. In Tokyo especially it was easy to find Jamaican restaurants, meet fellow Jamaicans there and also attend the Caribbean festival each year in Yoyogi Park. Jamaica has reached such a worldwide scale in its influence, and I think no matter you they’ll either be a restaurant, party or some event that’s inspired by our culture.
Q. You’re now living and working in Kingston, Jamaica. Can you talk to us about the decision to move back “home” and how that has influenced your career and life in-general?
A. There were a few factors that came together. I felt as if I spent a lot of time and energy trying to make Japan my home but I had reached the end of my rope. Covid-19 and the pandemic that followed didn’t help matters much. I was furloughed for quite some time, which added to that feeling of floating with no direction. At that point it was simply time to move on. Japan, especially Tokyo, can feel like a Disneyland-type bubble that shields you from the real world. Every visit back home saw things progressing while I felt I was on pause. The pandemic made me realize I wanted to be a little closer to friends and family and to resume “life” again.
Q. What’s next for you personally, and as an artist?
A. I want to continue challenging myself artistically. I have recently been diving into motion graphics by adding sounds, movie clips, and video effects to my collages. This has done wonders as I’m able to breathe more life into my work while also adding a little bit of storytelling. I've also been making a consistent habit of self studying 3D software. My goal is twofold as I want to further expand the world that I’ve been creating and to also fall back to my interests in Fashion Design by working with it digitally.
