#5357: Gelin BUTEAU

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Galerie Bourbon Lally <bourbon@haitiworld.com>

Gelin BUTEAU


Gelin Buteau was born on May 20, 1954, in the Southern Peninsula near
Cayes.  His father is a cabinetmaker, his mother a farmer.  He worked at
his father's shop where he was an apprentice.  Then he moved to
Port-au-Prince, where he obtained a job in a factory.  In 1991, the
factory closed.  When we asked him why he decided to paint, the answer was
that he had had a dream, that he would become a famous artist.

His early paintings were based on dreams of loas (or spirits) and
fantastic beasts.  In 1996, he returned to his homeland near Cayes where
he seemed to have found some peace of mind, and his paintings were less
tormented.

His work is highly original, and he is one of the most important Haitian
artists in the nineties.

He died October 11, 2000 after a long illness.




Gelin Buteau est n le 20 mai 1954, dans la presqu'le du Sud prs des Cayes.
Son pre est bniste et sa mre cultivatrice.  Il travailla comme apprenti
dans l'atelier de son pre, puis il vint  Port-au-Prince o il trouva un
emploi dans une usine.  En 1991, il perdit cet emploi avec la fermeture de
l'usine.  Quand nous lui avons demand pourquoi il s'est mis  la peinture,
il rpondit qu'il a su par un rve, qu'il deviendrait un artiste clbre.

Ses premires uvres taient bases sur des visions de loas  (ou esprits), et
d'animaux fantastiques.

En 1996, retourn vivre dans sa province d'origine, prs des Cayes, il
sembla trouver une certaine paix et ses tableaux taient moins tourments.

Il est un autodidacte et n'a jamais vu des livres d'art.

Son travail est hautement original et il est l'un des artistes hatiens les
plus importants des annes 90.

Il mourut le 11 octobre 2000 aprs une longue maladie.