The evolution of Haiti in art

To Paul Thate:

Paul:

Haitian art is the most primitive of all. It is so backward I would not even consider it Naive. It took a Frenchman, Henri Rousseau to bring Naive art to world class, but after him there is nothing.

At best, Haitian art can be sold at the Malecon alongside all the garbage thrown in the area exposed to heat , rain and dust and contributes to the slumliness of the area.

Not that Dominican art is any better, but vodoo art is as primitive as the stone man.

Thanks for the invitation, but I consider Haitian art just street craft.

TW

TW vrs Haiti

TW, I envision you as an educated man, which has enlightened me
about many aspects of live in SD. But when Haiti is mentioned the
courtain to your intellect falls, the lights go out and you mumble
nonsens. A mystery!? You should know that you are wrong
when you condemn a whole country and its people.
Regards X.

TW the racist.

Yeah TW, how can you condemn the whole country and the race that comes with it? I am very disappointed at your views on the poor people who try to assimilate in the dominican society faster than most foreigners that i know. EX: the first thing the Haitians do is to learn some quick words in spanish "dame algo", "mani mani, dulce de mani etc".
What are you complaining about? They live on the street as opposed to becoming a burden on the gov't. They routinely water the nearby trees with their urine and fertilize the soil with their own feces and other human waste by-products.
Where is the problem?

Azb, behave yourself this trhead is about ART!!

If that?s whats gonna stop AZB

Paul,

if you think that?s what is gonna stop AZB from practicing his right of free speech. you are way way way off the mark my man.

i think you will have to send over a case of presidentes along with two whores from the winston churchill / malecon crossing to get AZB to do what you want.

Ok, lets talk about ART.

Sorry X-man, but don't you think living off the streets is an "ART" all by itself when so many foreigners from so called "the first world" countries actually lose it all in DR and go back empty handed?
So whats new in the Haitian art exhibition, addition of one more palm tree and a lonely boat in the sea?

Hey take it easy, I am only pulling your leg. Don't take me so seriously, I am only bored on a thrusday rainy afternoon.

AZB, this is about art

Yes AZB, this is about art. I agree with you that some of the street art that is being laid on Santiago's streets like "Urine on Canvas", "Feces on Walls" has nothing to do with the exhibition we are being invited to.

But frankly, what Haitian artist in its entire history has any significance outside of Haiti? And in this case I am not discriminating against Haitians alone. What Dominican artist has any significance outside of the city of Santo Domingo. Colson? Ulloa? Bido? None of them transcended anywhere. Their paintings do not sell over US$5000 anywhere, if at all. The best one, Colson, was a Picasso imitator who never had anything original and was left behind in his own school, never appreciated or recognized. He had the technical skills, but not the creativity to break away from the pack. His own school contemporaries, Braque, Picasso, Matisse,Leger, all became stars. Colson remained anonymous.

Dominican art is in the stone age, so is Haitian art. When discussing art, please do not mention either country. If anybody wants to get into any meaningful discussion on this subject, let's stay with the major leagues.

I for one, do not waste my time visiting Dominican art galleries or museums. After you see the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Guggenheim, The Metropolitan you have seen it all. Let the infantile tourists look at your Haitian exhibit and let them buy some of that copycat art. Keep me out of it.

TW

Tw, You are relentless,there is nothing anybody can do. I still say if the artists from
HISPANIOLA had a chance to live in Paris
and hang with the "Major League" they would
come up with somthing even you would like.

Regards X.

after reading the , ahem, er, ah, discussion....

I find myself even more determined to work as an "arts missionary" to the schools on the North Coast...

IMHO, any *people* so infused with a love a color, a love of nature, and a love of symbolism - is surely a hotbed of artistic talent waiting to be nutured...

Perhaps one day, one of my new students will send you a notice of his/her first NYC exhibition!

There are tooooo many wonderful, intelligent children in R.D. - and - this fact negates the serious possibility of NO great artists being nurtured in R.D. ... it is a matter of time, and the supplies to facilitate such new artists.

Next, actual colors and paints available to children in R.D. to grow this love and nuture it!

I will let you know where you can send paints, crayons, papers, etc., so that the future will hold better art for your eyes... and the eyes of the world that haven't seen everything yet!!!

sorry, I'm terminally optimistic! and I'm serious

peace, Susan

X-Man

It has nothing to do with the artists themselves. Dominican artists have the skills. But Dominican society knows nothing better than to buy paintings depicting Flamboyan trees, horse drawn coaches, peasant women, doves, men cutting sugar cane and bullfights.

So our artists to survive have to resort to painting this stupidity on canvas. Avant garde in DR means impressionism. Some are even daring enough to like some cubist art.

You go into high society homes in DR and the paintings hanging on their walls are the same you find sold in parks and outdoor markets. I was amazed that a Dominican entrepeneur bought a Wilfredo Lam for a major auction price, only to hang it at his Hotel-Bar entrance.(Check out El Napolitano at the Malecon- I believe the name of the painting is "Woman with a child") What a chutzpah!!

I noticed some of the top Dominican artists are selling their paintings in a parking lot across the street from La Cadena supermarket in Bella Vista. Bido's work can be found even in bookstores at a dime a dozen. Likewise Guillo Perez' work can be found anywhere including El Mercado Modelo.

Our top artists are not bold enough to stay with the times and work with the advanced thinking of our times. They just want to survive and drive a jeepeta like everybody else. They live off their old glory, but have little ambition to go international. It is a sad state of affairs, and is not for lack of skills and techniques.

TW

thank God for the future

so that what should be..... may indeed be.

Dominican artists need to be freed to be themselves in your opinion.... they need to be set free from what the dollar says...

all artists all over the world LONG for that freedom....

NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE CHILDREN OF THE FUTURE.
NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF ONE SMALL GROUP TO CHANGE THE WORLD.... FOR INDEED, IT IS THE ONLY THING THAT EVER HAS....

JMHO, Susan

Haitian art vs the Carribean...

I am not trying to compare Haitian art with any european art, but if you look around you, in the Carribean, and even in central America, I don't see any other nation that has been so productive, and also so recognized by westerners in the artistic area... I am not a huge fan of Haitian art, however, while hangin'out in some art gallery in Cap-Haitien, I've seen some pleasant paintings, very different from the "cliches" of the Sto Dgo Malecon or the souvenirs shop in the North-Coast...