about the artist
Improvising his own melody, Saba fuses tradition, history, and the human body onto a canvas. Setting aside verbal knowledge, he explores different aspects of color, form, and shape. It seems that the true expressive nature of his work emerges through a self-reflexive process. Painting, for Saba, is an emotional experience—akin to conducting an orchestra. It is not a peaceful process but rather an ecstasy, a joy.
Saba’s art is meant to reach people—not necessarily in an artistic sense, but in a way that penetrates their consciousness and evokes a reaction. His goal is to stop viewers in their tracks, compelling them to absorb the interplay of shapes and colors. He wants people to experience his paintings as a journey—from the abstraction of colors to the essence of a landscape. Using thickly textured strokes applied with both brush and palette knife, he brings his works to life, swirling colors together in the beautifully chaotic medium of oil paint. His focus is on capturing the moment and reflecting emotions through texture and movement. The overpainted frame further enhances the spatial and three-dimensional quality of his work.
Saba won second prize in the Wreck of the Ten Sails competition, organized by the Cayman National Museum. He has exhibited his work regularly in group shows on the island and is currently represented by Pure Art and the Kennedy Gallery. He has held solo exhibitions with the Kennedy Gallery in 2003, 2006, 2008, 2014, 2017, and 2020.
Saba held his first independent show in December 1996. In 1998, he won first prize in the Dramatic Light in Artwork competition, organized by the Cayman Islands Visual Arts Society. In January 1999, he was named Artist of the Month on the Cayman News 27 television program. He takes great pride in his large-scale, 10-foot untitled public sculpture of bananas, which was unfortunately destroyed by Hurricane Ivan in 2004.
His paintings have been selected for the Permanent Collection of the Cayman Islands National Museum and the Cayman Islands National Gallery. In 2002, What’s Hot magazine named him “undoubtedly Cayman’s most popular artist.” That same year, he was represented at Art Miami by Kensington-Lott Fine Art Gallery.
“Saba” is also the name of another Caribbean island—a name that, for him, conjures the colors, moods, and emotions of the Caribbean.
exhibitions
- 2020 Future Sailor, Kennedy Gallery, Cayman Islands
- 2017 Seadrift, Kennedy Gallery, Cayman Islands
- 2017 Saltwater In Their Veins, National Gallery of the Cayman Islands
- 2014 Abatutta, Kennedy Gallery, Cayman Islands
- 2008 Waves, Kennedy Gallery, Cayman Islands
- 2006 Continuo, Kennedy Gallery, Cayman Islands
- 2004 European future origin from Kalocsa, Hungary
- 2003 Eclecticon, Kennedy Gallery, Cayman Islands
- 2003 Etude, Letterkenny, Ireland
- 2003 Art Miami, Florida, USA
- 2002 Blue, Kensington-Lott Fine Arts, Cayman Islands
- 2001 Blue August, Kensington-Lott Fine Arts
- 2001 "Alpha", Kensington-Lott Fine Arts, Cayman Islands
- 2001 Crescendo One Man Show, Cayman Islands
- 2001 Art Show at the Governor's House
- 2000 Cayfest
- 2000 Art Show at the Governor's House
- 1999 Cayfest
- 1999 Artist of the Month on Cayman News 27 Television Program
- 1999 "Ticket to the Past Ticket to the Future" sculpture exhibition at Pedro St. James
- 1998 Dramatic Light in Artwork competition organized by the Visual Arts Society.
- 1998 Cayfest
- 1996 "Best Offer" two man show at Harquail Studio
- 1996 Cayfest
- 1995 Carib Art (satellite exhibition)
- 1995 Art in the Park
- 1994 "Wreck of the Ten Sails" at Cayman Islands National Museum
- 1994 Caribbean Expressions Clarion
- 1994 Art in the Park