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Latin and
Caribbean Art:
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Bon Angel by George Valris
Gran Bwa by G. Valris $600
Marassatrois by Emile Jean
Baptiste $770
Baron Lacroix by Eviland
Lalanne
$1,000.
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George Valris
George Valris
claims that he does not believe in "Vodou Dambala, Erzulie and
all these things I put on the flags" When asked why he
used the images for the Iwa instead of just drawing something else
he replied "because that is how you make a Vodou flag", as
though making any other image out of sequins was inconceivable for
him. For the months that followed, he made imagery to prove
that is was a devout catholic.
He was born in
Cavaillon Haiti. George attended primary school in Lees Cavas
and at 19 set out for Port-au-Prince to make a life for himself.
Discovering a way to support his family, he gradually became a
sequin artist. His technical ability outreaches that of other
artists. His pearl work (like in Bon Angel) is particularly
exquisite.
Emile Jean Baptiste
& Eviland Lalanne
Emile Jean-Baptiste was born in a small village called Cochon Gras near Jacmel,
Haiti, in 1952 and now lives in Carrefour. Carrefour is a sprawling, working class suburb
of Port-au-Prince that used to be a well-to-do resort area. As conditions for the Haitian
peasant farmer worsened over the past decades, more and more of the rural population moved
to the city, changing the composition of suburbs like Carrefour. Jean-Baptiste came from
such a peasant background and worked as a farm laborer before economic conditions brought
him to Port-au-Prince in 1977.
Unlike most rural peasants, he did attend school long enough to learn some reading and
writing. He also had some drawing classes. Because he was literate, he managed to find
work in a gas station until 1983 when he started sewing flags for his kinsman, Eviland
Lalanne. After a year, he left Lalanne's atelier and set up his own workshop.
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At
first he paid someone else to do the drawings for his flags, but in 1986 he had developed
enough confidence in himself to draw his own. Like all Haitian nts his cultural background
is Voodoo but unlike many of the traditional flag makers, such as his kinsman Lanne, he is
not a Voodoo practitioner. He is inspired mainly by the images in the chromolithographs of
the Catholic saints. He is a practicing Catholic, although not devout. When his parish
priest challenges what he does as being anti-Catholic, his justification is that he has to
make a living. Above all, Jean-Baptiste is a practical Haitian peasant, doing what he must
to survive.
He
is very disciplined and his atelier is quite productive. He employs 15-18 sewers most of
the time. He has trained other flag makers like Catile who have gone on to establish their
own workshops. He also draws for other flag makers like Lafleur. His use of bugle beads
and hand-dyed sequin reflects Lalanne's influence, but recently he has begun experimenting
with matte sequin to give his more recent flags a three-dimensional look. |
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Papa Legba, GV006-HT, $1800, SOLD! |
Roland
Rockville
A devout Voodooist, Roland Rockville is one of the
most intellectual of the flag makers. He was born in Jacmel in 1954
and now lives in Croix-des-Bouquets, a village outside of
Port-au-Prince where the steel drum sculptors practice their art. He
was a student of Clotaire Bazile, one of the first generation of
great sequin artists. Having finished secondary school, he is also
one of the most educated of the flag makers. His flags often have
elaborate borders like Telemak's but their most outstanding
characteristic is their narrative quality. The narratives often
border on the esoteric but they hold the uninitiated viewer's
interest with the techniques he uses. Sometimes he will artfully
bead a small image within a heavily sequined area and then combine
this with large semi-sequined sections allowing a colored velour
fabric to show through. His flags are always beautifully
crafted. Enjoy his great Haitian art.
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Bios coming
soon!!
Click on picture for details of Haitian art, Voodoo
art!
Queen Le Siren, $500
Love in Chris by Constant $500
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Oguo Fer by Constant by
$500.
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LeSiren, GV004-HT, by Constant $600.
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The
Iguana Fish, $170
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Ronald
Clerisier and Pascal Monin
These
talented young artists learned sequin art from the masters and had
expanded to represent general themes of the Haitian culture, no
necessarily tied to the voodoo religion. Their main themes
tend to be animal interactions as seen through their artistic
eyes. These smaller flags are attractive introductions to fine
sequined art applied to universal themes. Great Haitian art
pieces with less emphasis in Voodoo art.
Lizard and the cow, $170
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Erzulie by Vilaire $90
Blades by Vilaire, $90
Aijan by Villaire,
SOLD.
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Fish by Vilarie,
$90
Vilaire The
distinctive style of Haitian sequin work done by the artist known as
"Vilaire" is actually a collaborative effort by the Cherisme
family. The family is large and comes from the village of
Torbeck. The Vilaire style began in 1993 with Molver Cherisme
who was working as a sequin flag-market in Port-au-Prince where he met
and studied with the well-known flag-maker Ronald Goiuin. By
1994 Molver had begun training his younger brother Vilaire. It
was Vilaire who made the design breakthrough establishing the "Vilaire"
style. Working with drawings of veves (abstract esigns
representing the Voodoo spirits) he pushed the abstraction even
further in this flags, bottles and other three-dimensional objects. The
following Vilaire sequins depict fishes and animals as abstract
representations of Vodou spirits.
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Marassa by Maxon $350
(Bio will be coming soon!)
Bossou by Maxon $410
Dambalah by Delva $300
Ives
Delva staring making flags with Silva Joseph. He decided
to open his own atelier and continues to work closely with
Silva Joseph. He was born in Port-au-Prince in 1967.
We are pleased to introduce him in our galleries. |
Grand bois by G. Valris
$500
Baron Samdy by Edgar, $420
Oguou by Delva $300
Lega by Delva $300
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