Artist Bruce Stuart has gone ?out Point and down de road? to get the inspiration for his new show, which is currently being held at the Rock Island Caf?, on Reid Street.

Some of the pieces are collages and others are paintings that show Bemudian architecture at night.

Mr. Stuart said he wanted the show to have a feel of the neighbourhood next door and has named the paintings ?Down de Road? or ?Up de Hill?. The long-time artist has been working on the content of the show since February and has a selection of very colourful pieces hanging in the coffee house.

?I have been working on other things, but it has been consistent for about six months,? he said, ?Although the process has been longer because of the collage buildings.

?It?s the new Bermuda. It is like the Bermuda of the 21st Century, we don?t know it yet, but this is what it is like. Go and take in the view of Friswell?s Hill or go down Spanish Point and take a look up the hill.

?And the colours are getting bolder with the houses and the architecture is a bit more in your face. I don?t like it and this is my reaction to it.?

He said he preferred older and more traditional Bermudian architecture better than the newer work.

?It is from my childhood and of my sensibilities, it?s my old Andrew Wyeth (American contemporary realist painter),? he said. ?But it is not that way any more and most people don?t think that. There is a whole new attitude that I would like to present if they like. What do you think? And if you don?t like it, I don?t mind. It doesn?t matter.?

Next on the agenda is a show at the Desmond Fountain Gallery and an artistic trip to Mexico, he said.

?It is back to the traditional stuff ? day time originals,? Mr. Stuart said. ?And then there is a little Christmas show. But I am going down to San Miguel, Mexico, to do some bronze sculptures, which is more on these lines again.

?I have been doing wooden sculptures of houses and architecture, but it?s bits and pieces and the negative shape, negative space of the shapes and the angles.

?So I am creating these houses, but lots of it is missing. So I plan to also do some painting in Mexico as well.?

He said when he creates a bronze, it offers a timeless effect.

?With bronzes you can bury them in the backyard and 200 years later dig them up,? he said. ?And that is the feeling you get when you do a bronze.

?It does something to you inside when you know that it is going to last that long. It is sort of a maturity when you know something will last. I felt that when I did my work in silver, because again it was precious.?

He said the culture in San Miguel is fabulous because of all the different artistic styles that are readily available.

?It is not like here where you will see landscapes or seascapes,? he said.

?Down there you are seeing monsters, demons and beautiful women, snakes, lizards and this amazing imagery and then you get visual shapes in realism that is even more. Portraits of people. Jimi Hendrix coming out of your back and it is all real, were we are still playing games.?

Mr. Stuart said he was pleased to see the amount of young people on the Island taking up art as a career.

He said: ?Much more of the youth have chosen art as a profession, whereas in my day you never could.?

?It was a hobby and you needed to deal with real life. It is going to be 25 years next May since I started selling my work and it was ten years after, through an accident, that I couldn?t do the job that I was doing and I was able to paint for three months.

?That?s when the show sold out in 20 minutes and there was no need to work a normal job because my art was paying my bills.?

?So it has been about 14 or 15 years since I have been living off my art. I am painting. I am doing my heart?s desire.

?I remember always painting. Always doing it. And always having to do it, but never a thought of, I am going to do anything with it.

?It just had to be done and now it is a privilege and an honour that people want my work.

?Now I am asking them to believe in me or believe me when I say that I am doing this for Bermuda and the integrity of what Bermuda is.?

Mr. Stuart added that the Island is an incredible place that has pretty much affected the whole world.

?All those people that come here to work from all over the world, they end up falling in love with something Bermudian,? he said. ?And when they go they take this Bermuda with them, so it is being spread further across the world.

?Bermuda has that effect on everybody and why are we being selfish when we only want a bigger car and or bigger and better house?

?We have affected almost every historical event and what do the tourists want to do - they want to hang out with locals, but we don?t say we don?t have any local culture, but we are it. We are waiting for something to fall out of the sky, but we have to accept that this is us.?