Guyana (which means “land of many waters”) is a small tropical country of variegated rivers wedged between Venezuela, Suriname, and Brazil. Its capital, Georgetown, is perched on the nation’s broad northern coastline, facing a vast expanse of sea and sky. The only English-speaking country in South America, it was first settled by the Dutch, then ruled by the English, who mined its mineral deposits, lush forests, and agricultural potential. Their exploitation of labor supplemented Guyana’s indigenous population with an imported workforce consisting first of African slaves and then of indentured servants from China, East India, and Portugal, thereby creating today’s rich multicultural mix. Andrew Lyght was born in Georgetown in 1949. Though his odyssey from his homeland to his present home in the Hudson Valley-the heartland of American art-is a fascinating story in itself, it is also much more. The trajectory of Lyght’s intriguing career kaleidoscopically spins through the disciplines of drawing, painting, and sculpture …see the entire article in the print version of November’s Sculpture magazine.
