For as long as he can remember, Lennox Coke has been an artist. “Even before I really understood what it meant to be an artist,” he shares with SO, “I would always draw and make things.” The artist, seated on a stool, smiles broadly as he reminisces on his early years in the district of Thornton, St Elizabeth, and how he diligently created toy cars, drew and provided assistance to people in the community.

Ironically, Coke’s dream was not to become an artist but, rather, an engineer. Today, with his parrot Penny perched atop his latest creation, it would be fair to conclude that he has indeed become an engineer – albeit an engineer of art – one with a creative eye for what seems to be his memories of Jamaica and its culture. Coke’s Grant’s Pen atelier is strewn with finished and unfinished work: canvases of people dancing, market scenes and country cottages, with each brush stroke unravelling a story, either through its shading or details.

Coke’s journey from St Elizabeth to Kingston “exposed” him to “real” art.

“I wanted to apply to do Engineering at UTech (University of Technology), but I didn’t have the necessary qualifications,” he says.

Coke subsequently found part-time work at an interior design company and studied to achieve the additional qualifications. It was during this period that the transition began. “My boss suggested to me that with my creative skills I ought to apply to the Edna Manley College of Art and Design,” he informs. With the support of family and friends, Coke then applied. “I was accepted, and discovered during my classes how diverse art really is… I was exposed to ceramics and sculpture.” But it would be the ‘Introduction to Colour’ classes that he’d find the most exciting: “Transforming a flat surface into something three-dimensional with colour was new to me. Prior to these classes I just used a pencil,” he recalls.

After graduating in 1997, Coke treated his art as a part-time job until he took the bold decision, in 2000, to become a full-time artist. “If you really want to get the fullness of anything you have to focus on it,” he states matter-of-factly. It’s no idle boast for Coke, along with his muse Penny (they interact non-stop), creates work that celebrates his life and takes inspiration from the things that make one Jamaican. “People feel a sense of nostalgia when they see Jamaica, and romanticise about our countryside…

“I offer, through my paintings, the cultural experiences that most Jamaicans cling to dearly,” he notes.

He also speaks of a ‘niche’ market that he believes Jamaican artists should tap into, since there is universal enjoyment of the Jamaican cultural experience.

The artist, who has exhibited throughout the Caribbean and North America, has clients from as far as Australia and South Africa.

Coke’s next step is to dabble in different types of art, explaining that “painting is the vehicle people associate with me, but I plan to explore other disciplines”.

Until then, art lovers can explore Coke’s work at the Potters Show in December and the Liguanea Art Festival in March 2010.

– Ayanna Dixon