Art aficionados seeking a break from traditional landscape paintings can pique their palettes with the vivid paintings at Manuel Palacio's art exhibition, which opens this evening. Mr. Palacio, born to a Nicaraguan parents (his mother has Jamaican roots), has been living in Bermuda for the past eight years with his wife Gail and their daughters Pharaoh, Indigo and Maya. He currently works as an assistant sculptor for artist Desmond Fountain, and Mr.

Palacio has spent the past several months focusing on his own work.

His artwork -- including both paintings and bronze sculptures -- will be on display starting today at the Masterworks Gallery on Front Street until August 19.

Mr. Palacio said he consciously incorporated a black perspective into his show, entitled "I'Is'', as a way of encouraging more black people to feel connected to art. "I wanted a black theme because I had talked to a friend who questioned why more black people don't come to art shows,'' he said.

"My belief is that they don't because they don't see themselves in the art - so my answer to that was to create art that I like as a black person,'' he added.

"When I see a black image in art, it excites me... when I worked at a Baltimore foundry (where bronzing is done), only two black figures came through in five years - and usually when you go to art school, the figures you draw are not black.

"But once (black people) go to an art show and see themselves, they might be more inclined to come (in the future).'' Mr. Palacio, who is currently the vice president of the Bermuda Society of the Arts, said he believes the art scene in Bermuda suffers because it's geared toward a tourist market.

"Because the tourist market is so successful, we do landscapes or make the art a certain size so they can take it away on the plane,'' he noted.

"But when we're so focused on what sells, we don't grow in other ways... That's why artists like Fiona (Rodrigues) and Andra Simons are like breath of fresh air. You can't package that and take it away, but that freedom is something I want to add to my own art,'' he added.

One of the vivid paintings hanging on the walls of Mr. Palacio's living room is entitled "Celebrando Jean-Michel Basquiat'', an artist who he calls the "star-child of neo-expressionism'' who he cites as a great source of inspiration.

"It's a shame most black people don't know much about the most famous black artist who ever lived,'' he said.

"Basquiat always wanted to do art for his own gratification first, and there's an energy and carefreeness with which he approached his art.

"He would make three paintings in a night, which is unbelievable -- most artists take forever to make a 14-foot painting although mind you, he was always on drugs,'' he chuckled.

Despite his admiration for Basquiat's work, Mr. Palacio said his biggest influence is from Hans Hofmann because of his focus on contrast.

"Someone gave me a postcard of his (print) called "De Gate'', and it was like an injection of oxygen into the brain, like when you hear good poetry for the first time,'' he said.

"When you're a poor kid and a tube of paint costs $20 to $50, you're not going to spill a tube of paint on the canvas. I always wanted to spill a tube of paint, but we're trained -- and seeing Hans Hofmann's art freed me.

"It's like I always wanted to wear dreads, even as a child, and I never did... but when Alice Walker did it, it's okay.

"Just like Bob Marley or Alice Walker or Toni Morrison, I was liberated through other artists' work.''