Frantz Lamothe's raw and visceral paintings reflect and combine fragments of his chequered past. Born in Haiti in 1961, his family was forced to leave Haiti with the four-year old Frantz when his father was involved in an abortive coup against the dictator 'Papa Doc' Duvalier. He spent his childhood in Brooklyn, and by the age of sixteen, was living on the streets, and painting graffiti in the subways of New York. This way of life came to an end when, along with fellow graffiti artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Lamothe was taken up by the New York gallery circuit. Following upon the death of Basquiat, Frantz decided to return to Haiti, where the combination of that country's vibrant artistic life and political instability (he was there during the coup against Aristide in 1991), gave new edge and vitality to his work. Combining his original anarchic street style with the vibrant colours of the Caribbean and the sacred diagrams of Vodou, his paintings attracted wide international acclaim, and have been shown across Europe, Japan and the USA. Frantz Lamothe now lives in Paris. This exhibition includes new and unseen works offering unique insight into the artists brutally honest vision of the world.
The smaller room of the October Gallery will contain an accompanying exhibition of Vodou Flags, Metalworks and Photographs from Haiti. In 2004 Haiti marks the anniversary of 200 years of independence amid an atmosphere of increasing tensions. These troubled times seem only to highlight the extraordinary creative vitality of the Haitian people that persists despite the continuing political problems. On exhibition will be a selection of contemporary sequined Vodou Flags, recycled metal sculpture from one of the world's most turbulent and fascinating islands as well as powerful black and white photographs taken at Carnivl time by the English photographer Leah Gordon. |