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24841: Cosentino (comment) Andre Pierre: Attention must be paid
Donald Cosentino <cosentin@humnet.ucla.edu>
I saw Andre Pierre on Easter Monday at his compound in Croix des
Missions. He was obviously near death. He was curled on the cot in his
sitting room, and couldn't rise or speak. I had seen him a year
earlier, when he was still painting, though nearly blind. Now the easel
was gone, the paint box closed, that wonderful chair he had sat on while
painting-the one all covered with painted spots like some Kongo spirit
throne---was gone too. All his children disappeared, except his eager
son Judson, who showed me a calabash he had just painted in the style of
his father. It seemed surreal that such a famous artist would be dying
without anyone taking notice. But his links to the outside world are
gone now too. I met him through Rodney Flambert at the Centre d'Art,
but Rodney died in 1999. And Issa, his first agent, died last year,
though his portrait still hangs in the sitting room. So who is to note
the death of this great artist? It seems too ironic that in this season
of death celebrations, when poor souls like Terry Schiavo, who knew no
one, become international celebrities, that Ganga Pierre should die
alone and unmarked. Is there anyone in Haiti who can bring us word of
his condition? Who can assist this mentor of Maya Deren, this
re-inscriber of the Vodou pantheon? Attention must be paid to the
passing of this great philosopher and artist!