Paintings shine light on precious history

By Lindsey Turnbull

“I sit on the sea. Boulders surround my peppermint figure. My job is to show you where NOT to go. At night I turn the water to green.” – Artist Gordon Solomon

Artist Gordon Solomon’s new exhibition, The Fair Weather Project Series, is an important reflection on nautical life so intrinsic to the Cayman Islands of old but easily overlooked today.

Giving the exhibition its title, half of the exhibition focusses on four apprentices working on the Fair Weather Project, run by the Fair Weather Foundation, an entity on a mission to celebrate Cayman’s seafaring history by educating young Caymanians in Cayman’s rich maritime traditions. The S.V. Fair Weather is the last surviving functioning Caymanian-made schooner, currently being repaired in the UK. The Fair Weather Foundation, founded by Paul Deegan, intends to eventually bring this schooner back to Cayman. Four young apprentices were sent to work on the ship, and it is these individuals who caught Gordon’s eye and motivated him to paint.

“Alex, Matthew, Aidan and Pierce were the first group of apprentices to travel to Gloucester, UK to work on Fair Weather. This incredible opportunity equipped our apprentices with essential skills in shipbuilding, including woodwork, electrical, mechanical, rigging and sailing. Our goal is that, once Fair Weather returns to Cayman, our apprentices will be directly involved with helping to maintain Fair Weather so that she can be used for the education of future generations of Caymanians,” the Foundation said.

The second half of Gordon’s exhibition focusses on an imaginary lighthouse, about which he has created ten pieces of artwork. One painting is entitled ‘Guardians of the Green Waters’. Gordon is passionate about keeping Cayman’s history – particularly its nautical history – alive and at the forefront of people’s minds, using his art to do so, and this particular piece is especially poignant.  

“The Guardian of the Green Waters is a metaphor for these types of sea light house. Like the land, light houses, too, face becoming obsolete,” Gordon said.

In painting such a piece, Gordon said he hoped it would provoke discussion on why it was that such crucial elements of Cayman’s history were allowed to become obsolete.

“Every advancement, like GPS, makes life better, but this comes with a catch. What happens when the GPS doesn’t work?” he pondered.

Gordon is based on Cayman Brac and his artwork, including this current exhibition, can be viewed at 271 West End, Cayman Brac by appointment only from August to October 2026.

Lovers of his work who cannot make the trip to the Brac can visit Pure Art in Grand Cayman next month, when he will be showing a small series ‘A Midas moment from a cave person’s point of view’.

Gordon said he loved to collaborate with other Cayman Brac artists and is planning a group show for Cayman Art Week in 2027 with some Cayman Brac-based artists. The show will be called ‘Taking fl8ght’.

If you want to find out more about Gordon’s art, subscribe to Gordon’s YouTube channel at gordonsolomonmusicandart