Hidden gem of Haitian art on the Lower East Side
BY TEQUILA MINSKY
The William Jennings Gallery at Kenkeleba House,
at 219 East 2nd Street— is a Lower East Side
treasure — but even as its fans and followers
mourn the June 4 passing of its co-founder/codirector
painter Joe Overstreet, the shows go on.
Corinne Jennings, Joe’s wife and Gallery cofounder
makes sure they do.
Jennings and Overstreet, along with Samuel C. Floyd,
founded Kenkeleba House in 1974 to support African
American culture. The gallery is known for educating
the public and promoting artists often ignored by the
mainstream art world.
Kenkeleba showcases a broad range of art with emphasis
on African-American, Latino, Asian and Native
American artist. Currently, “Passion and Perseverance
in Haitian Art” showcasing Emmanuel Merisier, Michele
Voltaire Marcelin, and Jean Dominique Volcy, is the fi fth
exhibition in the last two decades exclusively highlighting
Haitian artists.
The show represents a curation by artist and art critic
Andre Juste and Paul Corbanese, president of the Toussaint
Louverture Cultural Foundation, which published
a 33-page accompanying catalogue.
The Foundation promotes artists and the culture of
Haiti — the restoration of Haitian cultural heritage, infrastructure
and art works, and is particularly focused
on the rebuilding of the Musée d’Art Haïtien, destroyed
during the 2010 earthquake.
At the gallery, the front two rooms pay homage to the
talent and spirit of Emmanuel Merisier, who has turned
90 during this show’s run, and with fragile health is too
in unable to attend the show’s events.
Merisier has continuously lived a life in the arts and it
ERZULIE BEWARE PITY, ACRYLIC/MIXED MEDIA ON WOOD PANEL/NAILS.
(1999) WITH THE ARTIST MICHELE VOLTAIRE MARCELIN.
was during his New York artistic wanderings when he
discovered this gallery and introduced its owners to the
complexities of Haitian art.
As the catalogue states: “Symbolically (this exhibition)
represents the gallery coming full circle in its support to
Haitian art as the three artists took part in the 1998 and
2013 exhibits.”
All three artists are Haitian-born and have lived in the
U.S. for decades. Scenes, themes, objects and colors all
refl ect their Haitian heritage while their infl uences and
styles differ considerably.
Most of Merisier’s paintings with bold use of color depict
Haitians’ everyday life including the commonplace,
markets and vodou ceremonies.
Merisier came to New York in the mid-80s and studied
what was done in the art world and, as Picasso was
infl uenced by African art, Merisier’s Haitian background
provided inspiration and nurtured his creativity. He attended
the Art Students League and School of Visual
Arts as well as being a constant museum visitor.
“My works are often expressionistic, and raw and refl
ect some defi nite currents of modern art—art brute,
expressionism and primitivism,” he is quoted in the catalogue.
The exhibition of his work, relying on his memory to
represent, presents the artist as what he has professed to
be — a modernist primitif.
Michele Voltaire Marcelin’s work is that of a selftaught
visual artist (she is also a poet and performer)
whose textured surfaces range from stark to vibrant. Her
art refl ects strong opinions of current situations in Haiti
or the United States.
After seeing Rufi no Tamayo’s work in Mexico in 1988,
she felt she was given permission to be a visual artist she
said during the panel on the exhibition, last week. “I was
blown away by his use of color, texture of his paintings,
the freedom… I felt he gave me permission to paint,” she
said.
This exhibition opened mid-September. The closing
event, scheduled for Oct. 26 from 3 to 6 p.m., will include
music and poetry.
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