The self-taught Haitian painter Gelin Buteau was born on May 20, 1954, in the Southern Peninsula near Cayes. His father was a cabinetmaker, his mother a farmer. He left school with a certificate at the age of 20. At the same time, Buteau worked at his father's shop as an apprentice, then on a sailboat as a fisherman. An artist cousin who noticed his gift for drawing encouraged him to paint. The experience did not last long. Buteau moved to Port-au-Prince where he worked for several years in a sowing machine factory until it closed because of the embargo. Buteau took up his brush again to earn his living. Totally self-taught, he produces work which is close to art brut, strongly colored and astonishingly violent. He explains that he decided to paint because he had had a dream that he would become a famous artist.

 

Buteau’s early paintings were based on dreams of loas (spirits) and fantastic beasts and monsters. In 1996, he returned to his homeland near Cayes where he seemed to have found some peace of mind. Today, his paintings are less tormented. His works are highly original, making him one of the most important Haitian artists in the 1990’s.

 

Several of Gelin Buteau’s paintings were included in the 2000 exhibition “Haiti – Anges et Demons” at the Halle Saint-Pierre Museum in Paris, France. He died October 11, 2000 after a long illness.