In Fine Style: The Dancehall Art of Wilfred Limonious

by Christopher Bateman, Al Fingers (Editor)

During the 1980s Wilfred Limonious (1949 99) became one of Jamaican music s most prolific graphic artists, designing countless reggae album jackets and record-label logos. With silly characters, scribbled commentary and outrageous Patois-filled speech bubbles, the world he created was the perfect visual counterpart to the island s emerging dancehall scene."

272 pages, Hardcover

First published February 28, 2015

Reviews

[Fairfax · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew nothing about Limonious or even danchall music before I read this so it was a bit of a revelation. The art, and there is, of course, a lot of it in here, was deftly tied to the music, the scene and the time and place that it was created in. Even as someone who's not a dancehall/reggae fan, this was fascinating, and so, so visually appealing.

[C. B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book brings a very obscure aspect of Jamaica’s 80s and 90s dancehall culture – the visual culture – to a wide audience, and it’s very commendable for that. I’d always noticed the humorous and somewhat grotesque sleeve designs by Limonious, but I didn’t know just how prolific he was until I got this book. He produced his cartoons and graphics as quickly as LPs and singles were recorded and pressed, which was at quite an astonishing pace at this time in Jamaica. Another revelation of this book for me was the art that he produced outside of the dancehall scene, namely for pamphlets published by The Jamaican Movement for the Advancement of Literacy (JAMAL). These show just how versatile he was, producing not just cartoons and memorable logos, but also exquisite images illustrating Jamaican life at the time of the Morant Bay rebellion.

The book centres on reproducing a broad selection of Limonious's work, with only a small amount of text and analysis. This is an important point to remember about the book: it is primarily visual. The preface about Jamaican humour by Beth Lesser was fascinating, and more articles like this would have been very welcome for giving some context to the wealth of images in the book. I wish I could see the full interviews with some of the family of Limonious that the author draws on; the descriptions of his artistic passion from his brother were very beautiful and evocative. Despite this, the small amount of text on the life Limonious himself is unique and impossible to find anywhere else. Many of the illustrations included are also unique to this book. With all of that in mind, this is a hugely welcome addition to the study of Caribbean cultures.

[Leandro Aalto · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a designer it saddens me that I didn’t get to learn about Wilfred Limonious earlier. His work is pure excellence, all while made with two markers and no computer. As the design narratives that get in the mainstream media are usually white, it’s more than refreshing to read about a black designer who paved the way for so many of his industry and created a whole visual language and style of his own. It’s a perfect book for anyone interested in refreshing narratives of design made by BIPOC, illustration, cartoon, typography, lettering and just raw creativity, really. Definitely a book I’ll go back for reference.

[Kimberly McDonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is informative and paints a vivid picture of Dancehall in Jamaica. The collection of artwork by Limonious is colourful and captivating. I found myself pouring over the details on each page.