Isaiah James Boodhoo was a Trinidadian

Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...

 painter.

Born in the northeastern town of Sangre Grande

Sangre Grande

Sangre Grande is the largest town in northeastern Trinidad, in Trinidad and Tobago. It is east of Arima and southwest of Toco. Sangre Grande is sometimes abbreviated to just "Grande". It is the seat of the Sangre Grande Regional Corporation. The town falls into the Toco/Sangre constituency of the...

, Boodhoo received a governmental scholarship

Scholarship

A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...

 in 1958 which allowed him to study art at England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

's Brighton College of Art; there, he studied disciplined, formal techniques. By his return home in 1964 his style was non-objective, typical of the period. In 1968 he again received the opportunity to study abroad, this time at Central Washington University

Central Washington University

Central Washington University, often abbreviated CWU, is a public university in Ellensburg, Washington in the United States.This location was selected by the state legislature as a consolation prize after Ellensburg lost its bid to be state capital...

 and Indiana University

Indiana University

Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...

. Here he was introduced to Abstract Expressionism

Abstract expressionism

Abstract expressionism was an American post–World War II art movement. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve worldwide influence and put New York City at the center of the western art world, a role formerly filled by Paris...

. He also encountered disillusionment with the Vietnam War

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

, which was to inform his later work.

Upon his return to Trinidad Boodhoo developed the idea of using his art for social and political commentary; his first exhibition, at the National Gallery in Port of Spain

Port of Spain

Port of Spain, also written as Port-of-Spain, is the capital of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and the country's third-largest municipality, after San Fernando and Chaguanas. The city has a municipal population of 49,031 , a metropolitan population of 128,026 and a transient daily population...

 in 1970, was strongly influenced by local turmoil, and he was deeply critical of prime minister Eric Williams

Eric Williams

Eric Eustace Williams served as the first Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago. He served from 1956 until his death in 1981. He was also a noted Caribbean historian, and is widely regarded as "The Father of The Nation."...

 in some of his work. Boodhoo exhibited only twice more, once taking themes from the poetry of Derek Walcott

Derek Walcott

Derek Alton Walcott, OBE OCC is a Saint Lucian poet, playwright, writer and visual artist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992 and the T. S. Eliot Prize in 2011 for White Egrets. His works include the Homeric epic Omeros...

, until his "Caroni" series of 1992.

Boodhoo's late paintings, in a more lyrically abstract vein, were inspired by the sugar

Sugar

Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...

 industry of Caroni

Caroni

The name Caroni may refer to:*Caroni River , one of the biggest rivers of the Orinoco basin*Caroni River, Trinidad and Tobago, the major river on the island of Trinidad and Tobago...

, and he used its sugarcane

Sugarcane

Sugarcane refers to any of six to 37 species of tall perennial grasses of the genus Saccharum . Native to the warm temperate to tropical regions of South Asia, they have stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sugar, and measure two to six metres tall...

 fields and cutters as the basis for the so-called "Caroni" series. His last works took as their subject the symbols of Hinduism

Hinduism

Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...

.

Boodhoo was a member of the Art Society of Trinidad and Tobago. He died in 2004.