HAITIAN ART PAINTING: AGOUE LASIRENE - LIONEL ST. ELOI

I invite you to visit my ebay store to see more of Lionel's work.

This piece is by the esteemed Haitian painter and sculptor Lionel St. Eloi.  This is oil on canvas and was completed in July 2009.  It is titled CEREMONIE LASIRENE AND AGOUE.  The painting measures 35x35 inches. 

If you wish to see more of Lionel’s work, I have additional pieces for sale in my ebay store.  Also, Google Lionel St. Eloi and you will see his work at other web sites. 

The background (worth reading):  Searching the Internet for Haitian art, I stumbled onto the work of Lionel St. Eloi.  I immediately realized that when I went back to Haiti I would try to find him.  In the summer of 2004, I went downtown Port-au-Prince and wound up at the Centre d’Art.  Hanging on the wall was a painting by Lionel.  I told my translator that he was the artist I wanted to meet.  We took in the rest of the gallery and inquired about Lionel with no results.  Before we got to the gate to leave the grounds one of the attendants stopped and said that he knew where Lionel lived.  We walked down the street to catch a taxi.  Up we went on the narrow, winding roads.  We arrived in front of a house built on a steep road.  To the right was a large painting of a family on a sheet of metal proclaiming that we had made it to the home of Lionel St. Eloi.  Venita, Lionel’s wife, greeted us at the door.  Venita took us up a narrow stair to the second floor where we followed her down a slim hallway to the living room.  As we approached, I saw him sitting on a beat-up sofa.  He was wearing a pair of boxer shorts, t-shirt, and hat.  He looked up and greeted us.  I looked around in amazement.  Enormous paintings occupied one wall; they nearly went from floor to ceiling.  Opposite were smaller works by Lionel’s son Shiller.  In the corners were large portraits of Lionel and Bob Marley painted on the walls.  I spent the better part of the afternoon there.  My instincts were right about this small, gentle, quiet, unassuming man.  To me then and now, Lionel is a genius.   I had found the man I had set out to meet.

I went back to Port-au-Prince in February and visited Lionel.  I said I would return again in the summer.  In June 2005 I met Lionel at his home with the intent to actually buy some things.  During our discussions, I learned that he had recently received a visa to the United States.  Not easy when you are Haitian.  Lionel had been invited to attend the opening of the brand new Figge Museum in Iowa.  The museum had acquired one of his sculptures for their permanent Haitian art collection and had facilitated a board member’s acquisition of a piece by Lionel.  Anyway, Lionel indicated that he wanted to visit me in New Hampshire and then go to the opening.  That Tuesday I was leaving for home and told Lionel to meet me at the airport to make arrangements for his trip to the US.  Ironically, he shows up with his luggage and a winter coat.  It is the end of June.  We met with a ticket agent at American Airlines.  In what turned out to me a logistical nightmare, Lionel finally arrived in Concord, NH in August.  During his stay with my family, I managed to have Lionel seen by four doctors.  Given his age, he has already beaten the odds in Haiti and I figured that while here we would have him get a bearing on his health.  The outcome was positive.  Lionel came back on October 6 for surgery by a hand specialist.  The surgery was a success and he returned to Port-au-Prince on October 27. 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Kurk Lyons 

Expositions:

Group:

2007  French Institute, Port-au-Prince, Haiti

2000  Musee National des Arts et Traditions Populaires, Paris, France

2000  La Halle St. Pierre, Paris, France

1996,1997,1998  Outsider Art Fair, NY, NY

1998  Ramscale Gallery, NY, NY

1998  Le Toit de la Grande Arche, la Defense, Paris France

1998  ARCO, Madrid, Spain

1998  National Black Art Fair, NY, NY

1997,1998  Baltimore Folk Art Fair, Baltimore, MD

1996  Fondation Mona Bismarck, Paris France

1994  Galerie Lakay, Los Angeles, CA

1993  New Jersey Center for Visual Arts, Summit,  NJ

1993  Florida State University Museum,  Tallahassee, Florida

1993  Ramapo College Art Gallery, Mahwah, NJ

1992  Milwaukee College Art Gallery, Milwaukee, WI

Individual Expositions:

2000  Espace Loas, Nice, France

1994  Gallerie Bourbon-Lally, Petion-Ville, Haiti

1994  Inter-pienture, salon d’exposition du restaurant Ches Gerard, Petion-Ville, Haiti

1992  Centre d’Art, Port-au-Prince, Haiti

1990  Centre d’Art, Port-au-Prince, Haiti

1983  Centre d’Art, Port-au-Prince, Haiti

1981  Centre d’Art, Port-au-Prince, Haiti