On Display in Lighstpace Gallery from June 13, 2024 to July 31st, 2024.

Join us for the Opening Reception of this exhibition in the Lightspace Gallery at IAMA on Saturday, June 15th, 2024 from 3 to 5 PM.

Artist Statement

In my paintings, I try to create visual portals and possibilities for viewers to see anew. I communicate this attempt by way of visual conversations: whether through dialogue between the materials and the medium I choose to work with, an intra-dialogue among the various pieces of my oeuvre, or the dialogue my paintings have with their viewers. At different points in time, the vehicle of dialogue allows me to put specific concepts such as “memory,” “resistance,” and “spirituality” in conversation with one another, thereby demonstrating how these concepts are not mutually exclusive—how they, in fact, depend on one another.

In “Renold Laurent, Vibration of Colors,” I delve into my daily life, cultural roots, and the national history that has shaped my identity as a Haitian artist. I seek to explore my immediate and peripheral environment through observations of everyday life. I aim to capture various human perspectives using the language of symbols, shapes, and colors. I invite spectators to interact with a dance of shapes and colors, which offer an abstract glimpse into everyday life. I think that art is a way to move people by giving them special insight into experiences of joy, pain, and revelation. Consequently, my main objective is to reconcile or mediate art’s possibilities and society’s realities.

I use different materials. Depending on what domain I’m working in, I will privilege certain materials over others. For example, in a specific technique that I’ve cultivated over the years, I deploy mixed media—including, but not limited to, cloth, charcoal, resin, and sometimes even coffee grounds—in order to create a kind of recuperation. And by recuperation I mean how I ultimately reuse and transform these materials. For this exhibition, I focused on vibrant colors and shapes. A dialogue among the shapes, colors, shadows, and light that I paint, creating, what I ultimately hope is a real feast for the eyes. I encourage viewers to engage in an interpretive dialogue, inviting you to ponder the opportunities for meaning-making and the multiplicity of meanings embedded within each piece.