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In Memoriam: Once upon time TIGA By Hansy Marcelin
As the first anniversary of the death of Jean-Claude Garoute ( TiGa ) is approaching, members of the art community both in Haiti and in the United States, friends and family of the deceased artist are preparing to commemorate and give homage to a man whose passion for the arts as a human function took him to the confines of artistic dimensions seldom achieved by any artist while alive. Tiga will enter the realm of eternity in a manner reserved only for a privileged few. He was the Leonardo Da Vinci of the Haitian culture. He was a musician, a philosopher, an amateur cultural anthropologist, a painter, a teacher, a researcher…He did not need any one to tell his story; He wrote it himself. In 2000, Tiga published the story of his own accomplishments in the magazine of the French Institute of Haiti “Conjunction”. I present it here translated in its entirety from French to English to help our readers, art historians, students, art lovers and the public in general, understand the grandeur of the man without reverting to speculation, controversy, or misconception:
My original vision was to bring ceramic to the same heights others have taken paintings. Various researches led me to discover a common bond between all forms of art; thus I set to resolve the problem of simultaneous occurrence of pottery, painting, sculpture, music, literature, theater …My first experiences led to the foundation of Poto-Mitan as laboratory of research, with the collaboration of Patrick Vilaire and Wilfrid Austin Casimir ( Frido).
Subsequently my dealings with children, the mentally ill, illiterate adults, have convinced me that we should not limit ourselves to only one form of sensible support, if we should truly want to express ourselves. Art can help humanity regain lost equilibrium: children behave better when engaged in creative activities. When art is used as a foundation of intellectual formation, adults regain confidence and obtain clearer pictures. Saint-Soleil became the culmination of my cultural studies. I have since discovered the importance of Voodoo as the true source of Haitian culture. I found my art in the school of my people, the same source that led to Saint –Soleil. Art, at Saint-Soleil, is practiced as a reconciliatory means between man and himself, and between man and his environment. At that stage, it is not commercialized; it is rather an educational tool.
The target population is the members of a rural peasant community comprised of men and women, young and old, without any pretension of transforming any one of them into professional artist, but rather to awake in them a new vision of their own conscience.
When we consider the origin of the appellation Saint-Soleil, all religious aspects aside, we cannot possibly forget our friend Robert Saint-Brice who, once in 1971 at the contemplating one of our paintings exclaimed “Oh! This is Saint-Soleil!” It felt like an electrical discharge directly to the heart; and in a flash we all decided to use Saint- Soleil as the title of our first book of artistic research and philosophical reflections. The only difference came two years later when the appellation served as theme of the first exhibit of paintings issued from the cultural village of Soisson , presented at the museum of Haitian art; and was also the subject of a special issue of the magazine “ Petit Samedi Soir”. It is worth recalling That Saint-Soleil is a concept of a new life through the practice of art… To be an artist is good, to be human better serve to regenerate Haiti in a forever transforming world.
Galerie Marcelin LLC 1447 E. 108th St Suite 5B Canarsie NY 11236 phone (347) 729 0306 mobile (347) 2492878 Galeriemarcelin @aol.com
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