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Trevor Todd has designs on giving back

2007 file photoTrevor Todd: Art show for charity ends on Friday.

Artists are a generous bunch. They frequently contribute examples of their art for charity fund raising purposes, although in terms of career development, it is doubtful they gain much from it. Indeed, the amount earned for charity is usually well below the price artists usually get. Whoever buys charity art, usually gets it at a bargain price; artists are a mix of qualities, including idealistic, so they keep on contributing their art to good causes anyway.

Until Friday, Trevor Todd is exhibiting his latest creations, including five works for a silent auction. Of these five, each have been especially designed and designated for particular charities.

It seems that he designed them with each charity in mind. For example, one is designated for "Greenrock," the environmental charity and as may be expected the predominant colour in this particular painting is green.

The designated charities in this show are: the Bermuda Cancer and Health Centre, the Women's Resource Centre, Greenrock, Kaleidoscope Arts Foundation and the Alzheimer's Support Group.

The exhibition is being held at the Blu Bar and Grill at Belmont Hills in Warwick. The exhibition is sponsored by Ironshore Insurance.

In addition to the five paintings just mentioned, there are 24 other paintings in the show; many are recent creations, but not all. There are several of his earlier Aboriginally inspired paintings, as well. Many remind me of colourful maps. Instead of looking at Trevor Todd's paintings from a typically artistic viewpoint, that is, seeing them as looking through something, such as a window at the world, I sense, in Todd's case, that we are looking down on something, just as we do when looking at a map. I suppose this all goes back to his initial artistic influence; that of the art of the Australian Aborigines. I see their works as a kind of map or symbolic diagram as well.

When Trevor Todd first began to make art, some two or so years ago, the influence of the Australian Aborigines was most apparent.

His recent works, however, are considerably more colourful and his brushwork bolder and a lot more energetic. Initially, his approach to painting was by means of repeated elements, such as dots.

That required small brushes and much care in applying paint. His recent paintings are more free-flowing and gestural, necessitating large brushes and thick, juicy paint.

Since this exhibition is rapidly coming to a close, you will need to make a point to seeing it within the next day or so, but it will be worth the effort.