Fervent Mexican glamour, inventive surrealist images, decorative ornaments and nostalgic vehement figures feature in 'Inspirations', the latest exhibition currently showing at The Bermuda Arts Centre in Dockyard.

Angela Gentleman's work produces the same effects as Bermuda's bewitching flamingo-coloured sunsets, suggestive of the swirling, warm, smoky pigments washing over a sapphire tinted sky.

Angela has exhibited around twelve works in 'Inspirations' and has recently returned from a trip to San Miguel De Allende in Mexico, a celebrated retreat for artists, where she studied for a year at the Bellas Artes Government-run school.

Her pieces are abstract, mixed media works, combining material and paint which accentuate and synchronise vivacious shapes, inspired by the vitality and the colour of San Miguel.

A treasure chest of explosive multitudinous hues, including chocolate browns, gold, cerise, turquoise and amethyst appear to glisten, swirl and cascade like creeping sea mist upon the canvas. Each piece fills the viewer with a sense of balance and harmony and depending on your mood, you are drawn to certain dazzling shades and shapes.

Anyone familiar with crystal-healing or for those of us who just enjoy the look and texture of stones such as jade, rose-quartz, marcasite and topaz, will appreciate the raw essence of nature within these works.

Tightly crinkled paper has been painted over, producing the rippling effect of veins running through a leaf; light hits the metallic paint glistening like a moonlit waterfall veiled in shimmering rays of flickering lights.

Her work reminded me of a brocade or of the backgrounds represented in some of Klimt's paintings, such as in 'Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I' (1907), depicting a melodious patchwork of ornate shading.

Don Trousdell's work is quirky, fresh and innovative, effervescing with light and humour. His mixed media pieces are always enchanting, lending themselves to an arena of fantasy and child-like curiosity.

Trousdell is a colourful, enigmatic character on the Bermuda Arts scene and bubbles over with enthusiasm for his work.

Resembling Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka, you expect him to invite you into a kaleidoscopic factory of lollipops and chocolate sundays before bursting into a song and dance routine of Anthony Newley's 'Candy Man', while a chorus of children tap dance in unison, waving fluffy pink sticks of candyfloss into the air.

In this Exhibition he demonstrates where his blooming, soulful rainbow of inspiration has originated from, by paying homage to the works of Saul Steinberg, Stuart Davis and Piet Mondrian.

You can immediately spot some of these artists' influences in his work.

In Trousdell's 'Tools' (mixed media work), a vermilion red background is accompanied by a concerto of brilliant cobalt blue, sitting munificently against such a vivid colour. A heavy application of emerald green sweeps across the canvas forming sharper lines, while gold curves swirl around the colours, opposing the tart, almost geometric, vivid lines of the rapturous blocks of colour.

In true Trousdell style, he has sprinkled gold glitter, like icing sugar over a cake, onto some of the spherical swirls, adding artistic flavour to accentuate their shapes.

Trousdell's piece 'Exclamation' produces a different effect from 'Tools' in the sense that he concentrates on using squares and blocks of colour, rather than sweeping, circular arches. This particular piece pays homage to American artist Stuart Davis and his graphic imagery.

Stuart Davis, was the son of art director of the Philadelphia Press. He illustrated for a periodical, 'The Masses' (a social realist publication) and used "Colonial" Cubism as a way of unleashing energetic, fragmented aspects of American life. His subject matter is scattered into a pastiche of flattened abstract patterns with carefully delineated outlines and brilliant, contrasting colours, resulting in retrospective works.

In 'Exclamation', Trousdell mixes black, gold, silver, blue and crimson together, providing a quirky, Cubist piece, which skirts around the fringes of Pop Art.

His final exhibit, 'Basics', plays homage to Mondrian, an artist synonymous with the De Stijl Movement (De Stijl is a Dutch word meaning 'The Style'), which detaches the viewer from the personal, by concentrating on a more mathematical approach to art. Mondrian's placement of lines and colours demonstrated a more removed slant on beauty and vitality.

In 'Basics', silver is the prevailing colour and dots of green, blue, yellow and ruby enhance some of the forms, razor sharp edges and curves. The placement of lines breaks the work up into grids and is reminiscent of Mondrian's 'Broadway Boogie Woogie' (1942 - 1943), which portrays a mosaic representation of a lively, buzzing city.

Maria Evers-Smith was a great success at the recent 'Botanicals' Exhibition held at The Arts Centre in Dockyard, and she has produced a beautiful seaside scene in oils for 'Inspirations'.

The aquamarines of the sea contrast with the caramels of the sand and the billowing white, fluffy clouds. This piece suggests lazy Sundays spent pottering along the beach.

Fifteen year-old Paula Finsness offers her viewers an intimate, unbridled moment into an old man's most treasured memories. In her portrait entitled 'Prized Possession' (acrylic on paper) an elderly gentleman passionately embraces his paramour, a cello, uniting him with years of history.

Ms Finsness has managed to capture the ravaged look of age, the man's hands emphasised as being bony and old. He resembles a moth-eaten college professor or music master, sporting a checked tweed jacket, his face vehemently conveying a look of sheer nostalgia and love.

Buttercup yellow, oranges and vermilion play wistfully in the background, accompanying the memories and years of a life perhaps spent in concert halls, opening nights and celebrated galas. The ease and motion with which the man bends towards the cello demonstrates the skill of this young artist.

Kok Wan Lee has also exhibited a portrait in charcoal entitled 'Butterflies and Us'. He demonstrates his strong talent for figure drawing and it would be fantastic to experience more of this kind of work from him. You find yourself intrinsically drawn to the slightly hunched, melancholy, almost spectral subject, wanting to know more about the person represented. This piece leads you to question age, pessimism, oppression and beauty.

'Butterflies and Us' cast my mind back to days in London spent sitting on buses, the rain beating down upon the roof, observing passing commuters. It reminded me of one regular commuter in particular - an arthritic, elderly gentleman, his face saturnine and his hands stained from years of nicotine, unceremoniously belting out a choking phlegm-filled cough before sharing an evening's dinner of fish and chips with a devoted, plump dachshund clad in a tartan dog outfit.

After disembarking from the bus in the evening's dank night air, he would hobble back with his faithful hound tucked under one arm, perhaps returning to a sterile, solitary Tooting bedsit, surrounded only by memories, old sepia photographs, corn pads and a stash of Frank Sinatra records.

Kok Wan Lee's painting bears this edge of gritty realism. His portrait opens a window onto those special moments spent studying people.

Chesley Trott successfully manages to convey shape, form and motion in his bronze sculpture of an 'Acrobatic Dancer', which appears to reach out to the audience, capturing the equilibrium and poise associated with stretching and balance. Chesley demonstrates his capability in using different mediums to illuminate pose and stance. In a piece entitled 'Anna', he has carved a lineal and angular figure out of cedar wood.

Begging to be seen is 'Arms, a Snake and a Club' by Delight Goodfellow, which arouses a similar response to observing work from The Dada and Surrealist Movements.

Goodfellow's quirky, surreal assemblage consists of papier m?ch? arms, a furry green toy snake peaking through a branch, and a papier m?ch? club.

The artist is a props designer for theatre productions and her ideas stem from a spontaneous response to an idea.

Social satire is important in a day and age where people tend to take themselves far too seriously, missing out on the humorous, the precious and the enigmatic.

Originally a European Movement started in the early nineteen hundreds, Dadaism aimed to challenge established modes of thought and morality by focusing on the incongruous; this anti-art fuelled artists such as Max Ernst and Marcel Duchamp.

However, since then comedians and artists have exploited the contradictory nature of Dadaism. Barry Humphries, creator of Dame Edna Everage, spent a great deal of his youth dabbling in Dada and exploring the absurdity of the Movement, on one occasion filling a military boot with custard and exhibiting it in the name of Dada.

Delight's work also bears echoes to surrealism and the displacement of objects.

Salvador Dal? proclaimed himself a Surrealist. He was also a master of optical, artistic illusion, infamous for taking a subject and turning it into an ambiguous maze of dream-like, shocking and contorted images. 'The Persistence of Memory (Soft Watches)' is one of Dal?'s most memorable and clever pieces. Inspired by runny Camembert cheese, he depicts watch faces melting and sliding down objects in the same way that syrup slowly oozes over a spoon.

'Inspirations' features many other highly talented artists and craftsmen. Viewers can browse through a labyrinth of exhibits. Anything from batik to sculptures and wall-hangings, blown glass and landscapes are on show.

Other exhibitors in this Exhibition include Von Rica Dickenson, Joyce Beale, Anthy Hellmers, Jon Mills, Martin Proctor, Suzie Lowe, Arthur Trott, Kelly Diel, Paula E. Lightbourne and Jackie Stevenson.

'Inspirations' is currently showing at The Bermuda Arts Centre at Dockyard until 29th November.