La célèbre université de Californie avait déjà proposé il y a 17 ans, une exposition majeure et qui a marqué les esprits pour qui la vue, "The Sacred Arts of Haïtian Vodou". A l'époque, c'était la première fois que les arts, les oeuvres et artefacts liés au culte le plus populaire en Haïti, étaient présentés en aussi grand nombre. Ce fut l'occasion de découvrir la richesse esthétique et symbolique d'une culture dont il reste beaucoup à apprendre. Le commissaire de l'exposition, Donald Consentino, réinvesti l'université de UCLA et propose cette fois, une traversée du 21ème siècle haïtien, ponctué par des soubressauts politiques, des cataclysmes naturels tragiques, les épidémies... et explore les réponses des artistes haïtiens à travers leurs oeuvres.
In Extremis: Death and Life in 21st‐Century Haitian Art explores how leading Haitian visual artists have responded to a tumultuous 21st century, an era punctuated by political upheaval, a cataclysmic earthquake, devastating hurricanes, epidemics, and continuing instability. Consisting of approximately seventy mixed-media works by established artists and a rising generation of self-taught genre-busters, the exhibition offers unflinchingly honest and viscerally compelling reactions to Haiti’s contemporary predicament.
In depicting stark realities of the Haitian (and human) condition, all of these pieces invoke the overarching presence of Bawon Samdi, the Vodou divinity who presides over key aspects of mortality, sexuality, and rebirth, and his trickster children the Gede, who are the Vodou divinities most beloved by the Haitian people. Sculptures by Grand Rue artists André Eugène, Jean Hérard Celeur, and Frantz Jacques Guyodo―crafted from used automobile parts, old computer components, and other industrial cast-offs as well as incorporating human skulls and clothing―clearly bear his imprint. So too, do heavily beaded and sequined textiles by Roudy Azor and Myrlande Constant that depict the 2010 earthquake and its aftermath. Likewise, paintings by Mario Benjamin, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Didier Civil, Frantz Zéphirin, and Edouard Duval-Carrié and site-specific installations by Maksaens Denis and Jean Robert Celestin all proclaim Bawon Samdi and the Gedes to be paramount spirits for a nation, and perhaps a world, in extremis.
Artists:
In Extremis: Death and Life in 21st‐Century Haitian Art explores how leading Haitian visual artists have responded to a tumultuous 21st century, an era punctuated by political upheaval, a cataclysmic earthquake, devastating hurricanes, epidemics, and continuing instability. Consisting of approximately seventy mixed-media works by established artists and a rising generation of self-taught genre-busters, the exhibition offers unflinchingly honest and viscerally compelling reactions to Haiti’s contemporary predicament.
In depicting stark realities of the Haitian (and human) condition, all of these pieces invoke the overarching presence of Bawon Samdi, the Vodou divinity who presides over key aspects of mortality, sexuality, and rebirth, and his trickster children the Gede, who are the Vodou divinities most beloved by the Haitian people. Sculptures by Grand Rue artists André Eugène, Jean Hérard Celeur, and Frantz Jacques Guyodo―crafted from used automobile parts, old computer components, and other industrial cast-offs as well as incorporating human skulls and clothing―clearly bear his imprint. So too, do heavily beaded and sequined textiles by Roudy Azor and Myrlande Constant that depict the 2010 earthquake and its aftermath. Likewise, paintings by Mario Benjamin, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Didier Civil, Frantz Zéphirin, and Edouard Duval-Carrié and site-specific installations by Maksaens Denis and Jean Robert Celestin all proclaim Bawon Samdi and the Gedes to be paramount spirits for a nation, and perhaps a world, in extremis.
Artists:
| Evelyne Alcide | Frantz Jacques, aka Guyodo |
| Roudy Azor | Jean Philippe Jeannot |
| Pierrot Barra | Alphonse Jean Junior, aka Papa Da |
| Jean-Michel Basquiat | Guerly Lauren |
| Clotaire Bazile | Dubreus Lhérisson |
| Mario Benjamin | Georges Liautaud |
| Wilson Bigaud | Seresier Louisjuste |
| David Boyer | Stivenson Magloire |
| M. Brutus | Pascale Monnin |
| Myrlande Constant | André Pierre |
| Jean Hérard Celeur | Frank Polyak |
| Didier Civil | Jean Claude Saintilus |
| Maksaens Denis | Lionel St. Eloi |
| Edouard Duval-Carrié | Yves Telemak |
| André Eugène | Georges Valris |
| Patrick Ganthier, aka Killy | Frantz Zéphirin |
| Leah Gordon |
Syndication