Hon. Hylton Newbhard,Untitled,c.2002, 22 x 24 in., oil on metal relief

Courtesy of the Collector

Wain Iton, the CEO of the Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange, in love with art.

Wain Iton, the current CEO of The Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange, has an impressive collection of mainly Jamaican art. A few pieces from Cuba, Trinidad & Tobago and St. Vincent are among more than 300 paintings in his art collection.

Wain started collecting art in 1979, when he returned from Canada to Jamaica to teach at the University of The West Indies. His first paintings were two simple sweet landscapes by an amateur artist. A year later, a close friend introduced him to the great Jamaican artists Kapo and Carl Abrahams, and that’s when, as Wain says, his love affair with art began.

Early in its development, Wain focused on the Jamaican Masters such as Carl Abrahams, Kapo, David Pottinger, Barrington Watson, George Rodney, Roy Reid and Albert Huie to name a few. He became friends with many of the artists he collected. "I treasure most the warm, deep, personal friendship I shared with Carl, Kapo, David and Roy, all of whom are in heavens. It gave me tremendous insight into their humanity and hence their creative output," says Wain. His first major acquisition was a painting by Kapo.

Later on he started cultivating a younger generation of would be masters such as Roberta Stoddart, Lance Ferron, Michael ‘Flyn’ Elliot, Nakazzi D.B Don, and Khary Darby.

Wain shares that he will certainly continue to collect art. He says: "I have aspirations of being an international art dealer, but I haven’t sold any pieces yet. I jokingly state that there are pieces in the collection I would like to hang in The Louvre, but seriously I would love to have that conversation with their curator(s)."

Wain Iton was born in St. Vincent. He lived in Jamaica for 34 years, and in December 2007 moved to Trinidad and Tobago. From 1988 to 2004, he was the general manager of the Jamaica Stock Exchange. Currently, he is the CEO of the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange.

Wain Iton is a passionate art collector. He states: "I really do enjoy living with my collection and share it with as many people as possible."