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Pogus Caesar is British artist and television producer, director and presenter. He was born in St Kitts, West Indies, and grew up in Birmingham, England.
A self taught artist who took up painting seriously at the age of twenty five, following a series of short term jobs. His early work was greatly influenced by French impressionist artist Georges-Pierre Seurat, one of the foremost exponents of the pointillist technique. Whilst Seurat built up his compositions from a multitude of tiny coloured spots, Caesar developed his own technique by using simple pen and ink – composing his paintings with thousands of tiny dots. This minutely detailed use of a fountain pen means that even the smaller works take several months to complete.
During the early 1980s Caesar became director of the West Midlands Ethnic Minority Arts Service. and was also the 1st Chairman of Birmingham International Film & Television Festival. He also played a crucial role as selector and contributor to some of the earliest shows by black British artists including Into the Open (1984) and Caribbean Expressions in Britain (1986).
More recently he made TV and radio programmes for Central Television, Carlton Television and BBC West Midlands. In 1993 he formed his own production company, Windrush Productions. His productions include I'm Black in Britain, Respect, Drumbeat and the award winning multicultural series Xpress.
As a photographer Caesar has worked in Spain, India, South America and Sweden. He has documented the artists, musicans, poets and politicians that he met and with whom he collaborated - including Stevie Wonder, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Paul Robeson Jr. These and other images accquired by Mappin Art Gallery Sheffield, Wolverhampton Art Gallery and Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery represent important visual documents recording key figures in black British history.
Caesar's photographs documenting Birmingham Black history is held in Birmingham Central Library Archives. He has exhibited widely and is work held in public and private collections in Britain, Europe and USA.
Television
As presenter:
- Here & Now (Central 1985-1989)
- I'm Black In Britain (Central 1993) - also producer.
- Drumbeat (Central 1999) - also series editor.
As director:
As producer and director:
Selected films
As director:
- Reflections (Windrush/Millennium Commission 1999) - also producer.
- Forward Ever Backward Never (Windrush/Artangel 2002)
External links
- Behind the lens of Pogus Caesar (http://www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/your_community/2004/10/pogus_caesar.shtml)
- Pogus Caesar Galleries (http://www.search.digitalhandsworth.org.uk/engine/resource/exhibition/standard/default.asp?txtKeywords=&lstContext=&lstResourceType=&lstExhibitionType=3&chkPurchaseVisible=&txtDateFrom=&txtDateTo=&originator=%2Fengine%2Fcustom%2Fgallery%2Easp&page=2&records=18&direction=1&pointer=5307&text=0&resource=4455) at Digital Handsworth (http://www.digitalhandsworth.org.uk)
- Pogus Caesar (http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/GenerateContent?CONTENT_ITEM_ID=20391&CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE=0&MENU_ID=11005) at Birmingham City Council (http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/)
- Pogus Caesar at the OOM Gallery (http://www.oomgallery.net)
- Pogus Caesar (http://gallery.virtualbrum.co.uk/album13?page=1) at virtualbrum.co.uk
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