The Smithsonian Institution’s Ripley Center in Washington, D.C. opened an exhibition of 100 paintings and drawings made in the aftermath of the January 12th earthquake by Haitian children. On view for the past two weeks and continuing through October, the show kicked off with the participation of Elisabeth Preval, wife of Haiti’s current president Rene Preval. She called it a reminder of the fact that Haiti still needs help.
Mrs. Preval wants the help of U.S. museum professionals and conservators in the recovery effort of Haiti’s visual heritage, she told the Associated Press news service. “This is fundamental for our nation,” said the First Lady of the Caribbean nation. “This is our cultural heritage. This is us…My dream and my hope is to make sure the world does not forget Haiti.”
While so much of the news has been bad about the earthquake’s effect on museums, galleries and private collections of Haitian art, there is one small bright spot. At least four of the murals done at mid-century in the Episcopal Holy Trinity Cathedral in Port-au-Prince survived this horrific natural disaster and can be saved. Private dollars from different sources are going toward this effort. The largest donation so far is $276,000 made by the trade association the Broadway League. Each of these entities gave $30,000 to the recovery project — the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Sciences.. The plan is for U.S. conservators to hand over the reins for most of this meticulous work to Haitian professionals by November, 2011.

–Candice Russell

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Do you like weird art? I guess the answer depends on just how weird in terms of what elements are included. In this case, I am talking about a painting on canvas I bought more than two decades ago in Haiti. This untitled work, measuring sixteen inches by twenty inches, is signed by Jean Claude Mehu, the artist, and dated 1987. It is weird, but also strangely compelling to me, because of its abrogation of one of the first visual art rules — create a central focus.
There is no central focus in my painting. Rather, there are competing points of interest, including the woman in the foreground pouring a pitcher of water inside on what might be rumpled blue clothing or a rock inside her house! In the background is a tree growing out of a table with a neat blue tablecloth on which three fat rats scamper next to the naked light bulb hanging from the ceiling.
Other unexplainable elements abound. Priests in long robes gossip in the background next to a bamboo fence, which is being repaired by a workman. Someone else stands on scaffolding to paint one of three houses in the background. A man in a red and white checkered shirt, blue kerchief, and gray knit cap holds what appears to be a small panther under its arms.
But the weirdest and most confounding bit of all is the bushy-tailed orange squirrel that dominates the right corner of the painting. He is sitting next to a bricked pool with water and is so wildly out of perspective that if the squirrel stood on its hind legs, he could be taller than the woman. What to make of Mehu’s wild imagination? I have pondered this painting many times and never put it up for sale because I cannot get to the bottom of it.
The thing is, it’s beautifully painted with meticulous detail. There are multiple narratives going on, none of which make a complete lot of sense. Once I get started looking at this painting, I cannot stop. With these thoughts in mind, maybe Mehu got it right. He created a painting that grabs the viewer’s attention in a way that one doesn’t want to let go.

–Candice Russell

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For the past two Sundays, I have hosted Haitian art aficionados in my home. One is a veteran collector who lives in Miami, an erudite architect whose taste is eclectic and sophisticated. Another is a folk art lover with a fondness for many cultures, including Haitian. What got this man interested in Haitian art was a gift from Don Francisco, the colorful host of the Spanish-language TV variety show “Sabado Gigante.” It was a Haitian painting that Don Francisco had bought from Dr. Carlos Jara, a fellow Chilean like himself, who lived in Haiti and had a popular gallery there. Carlos was my closest friend before his untimely death in May, 1999. The third visitor was a woman from Hollywood, Florida, who had seen a Vodou flag on my website and wanted to see it in person.

Discussions of Haitian art with people truly interested in knowing more about it are an exciting aspect of being a collector and seller. Looking things up in books, doing Internet research, even staring at paintings of particular beauty are all part of my fascination with this subject. The past two Sundays were filled with these moments and more. I am looking forward to more such wonderful days.

–Candice Russell

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If you want to experience the Caribbean in its full cultural glory, head to Vinoy Park in downtown Saint Petersburg, Florida on June 12 and 13 for the Tampa Bay Caribbean Carnival. There will be DJs, an ethnic parade, a steel band, internationally renowned Caribeean recording artists, a “mas” costume exhibition, food and crafts, which I would assume include the remarkable art of Haiti. Sounds like a good time.

–Candice Russell

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Leave it to the good and caring journalists and editors at the Miami Herald newspaper to continue to keep Haiti in mind with interesting stories. Congratulations to reporter Jacqueline Charles for her long story about the Haitian music scene and such popular bands as Kreyol La, Barikad Crew and Djakout Mizik. A recent street party authorized by the government involved hundreds of people who paraded through downtown Port-au-Prince in a sort of celebration of life going on after the terrible January earthquake. Charles called the event “the first major dance party in Haiti’s crumbled capital since the 7.0 magnitude, and signaled a return to the vibrant nightlife that has characterized this nation through good times and gloom.”

RAM, led by Richard Morse, the affable manager of the famed Hotel Oloffson in the island nation’s capital, set the crowd ablaze with pleasure in sound, sight and movement. Not surprising, considering that RAM rocks the rafters of the Oloffson every Thursday night (or at least it used to) from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Who better to lead this musical resurgence than RAM with its roots-based music, singers and dancers?

If I were Charles’ assignment editor, I would have her researching the visual arts scene to assess the damage to Haiti’s museums, the seminal Le Centre d’Art that launched so many careers, and galleries. Which artists survived the earthquake and who didn’t make it? What is the aesthetic thrust of the art scene? All of these are good questions begging for answers for people who love Haiti and long for its renaissance.

–Candice Russell

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