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His aesthetic curiosity has kept him in touch with the
different -schools- in the country and has led him to
reflect upon their many similarities and differences, mainly
differences due to the very rich contribution of so many
cultures. He also tried to understand which could be the
source of his creativity. If today, Burton has not totally
set aside his previous influences (American painters), in
his latest paintings he does claim his Haitian roots in when
choosing his subjects.
His paintings are, above all, a look on his artistic
environment, on certain painters who have made a mark on
their time and increasingly influenced the young modern
painters, these uncontested masters of naive art : St.
Brice, painter of the depths of the Haitian psyche, Georges
Liautaud, the blacksmith of crosses become sculptor who
started the well known school of the voodoo blacksmiths and
who is one of the .magicians of the earth-. He also observed
the -worker-artists- who, day after day, weave the -veves-
with infinite patience. Chenet has captured their signs,
forms and colors. His paintings remind us of these voodoo
flags, colorful banners carried by the temple dancers or
hounsis. His imagery is loaded with these symbols, these
links to Haitian reality. Chenet's search may have taken him
through the closed gates of town cemeteries or the enclosed
gardens of the villas of his entourage. He also retained
captivating images. An amalgam of lines, forms and
arabesques that he puts on his canvas with quite
disciplined exuberance.
What is most striking in his work is the abundance of
colors, intense blues from the sky and the sea, the strong
greens of palm trees, the ebony black of the wrought iron
artist, colors softened by reminiscences of autumn, the
brownish ochre, raw sienna blended with white when he comes
back to his earlier influences.
Burton Chenet was not influenced only by some American
masters. One also finds a certain impressionist tendency in
many of his most recent paintings -Montagnes et lumieres-,
-0cean et plage-, -Fenetre bleue- have been embossed. -La
barriere-, which follows the same tendency, is rather
mysterious: a door which opens and closes on something is in
front of a wall and has no hook nor lock. -Sept coeurs-,
reminiscent of Erzulie's veves, -Le magicien- with his
multiple hands is also a reminder or a parody of a guede and
-Marinet-, -Marassa- and -Le chien- are also part of Haitian
imaginary. His technique has kept the touch and often the
composition of painters known as modern in Haitian or even
universal language, precisely in opposition to the school
known as naive which I prefer to call spontaneous.
Despite his apparent casualness, Burton Chenet is a steady
and conscientious worker, an artist to whom painting means
permanent inquiry. His studio is full of paintings of many
tendencies, an indication of his capacity for work. Unlike
the Haitian naive painters who inspired him, he does not
approach his subjects as a believer but rather as an
aesthete. He knows no duality: he advances quietly, at least
now, to explore the immense resources and artistic wealth of
his native land. His work attracts, intrigues and raises
thoughts and interrogations, while expecting the visitors to
find themselves the keys to open the closed doors of his
artistic universe. |
