27245: Henderson--news article on Edouard Duval-Carrie exhibit (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: SFclinics

David Burke, staff--Quad-City times

Figge exhibit chronicles life story of Haitian virtuoso

     Haitian artist Edouard Duval-Carrie's exhibit at the Figge Art Museum,
which opens next weekend, is a bit of a belated thank-you gift.
     In 1989, Duval-Carrie had his first exhibit, he was visited by a group
of American art lovers, including Dr. walter Neiswanger and Larry Hoffman,
then-director of the Davenport Museum of Art.
     "They were the only people that bought my paintings," Duval-Carrie
recalled with a laugh. "You can imagine why I love them."
     The acquisition served both well--it helped develop the Davenport Museum
of Art's (now the Figge) reputation for it's collection of Haitian art, and
gave a boost to Duval-Carre's career.
     "WEe've had a love affair with Edouard for many years," said Michelle
Robinson, Figge curator.
     "Migration of the Spirit" which opens next Sunday (01/22), is the
closest Duval-Carrie has had to a career retrospective.  "My life story, which
is a
long one," the 52 year old said.
     "I consider this my first retrospective," he said "I've had big shows
before, but this one covers a long span of time and all the media I've dabbled
with."
     That includes not only the expected paintings and sculptures, but works
in bronze, plastic, acrylics and the use of canvas and aluminum as painting
surfaces.
     "We're covering a lot of ground here," he said.
     Duval-Carre's retrospective brings together what he considers to be his
most monumental works.
     "I wanted to have a reunion of the four installations--a group of
paintings, accompanied by sculptures," he said.
     The first installation was created in 1989, for the bicentennial of the
Haitian revolution.  The second was commissioned in 1992, to celebrate the
500th anniversary of Columbus' discovery of America.  The third was for the
1996

Atlanta Olympics and the last was "Endless Flight" about Caribbean roots
forming in the United States.
     The Atlanta Instillation includes "Voudou Pantheon," a group of 15
sculptures about the Voudou religion.  "I brought the whole Voudou pantheon to
their cousins there," he said.
     "It a very complex, complicated thing that has been misunderstood in the
West.  You realize quickly that it's a type of religion on many levels."
     Duval-Carrie said the ongoing political conflict in Haiti has an impact
on his and other artists' work.
     "I try to introspect and analyze it and put it in historical context,
where we are as a nation," he said.  "All these questions permeate my work."
     He said that artists should respond to their environment no matter what
part of the world they live in.
     "I've never been a fan of art for art's sake," Duval-Carre said.  "I
think artists...have a reaction to being a part of their environment.  They
have

reactions to their lives and their conditions.  We don't live in a vacuum."
     For the past 12 years, Duval-Carre has lived in Miami, in a growing area
called Little Haiti.
     He said it is more difficult for artists to make a name for themselves
in Haiti than when he first started out.
     "The country has suffered because the political turmoil has closed it as
a tourist destination," he said. "It's very difficult there to circulate."

David Burke can be contacted at 1-563-383-2400 or dburke@qctimes.com

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