Original work by Maxan Jean Louis, naif art, primitive art, voodoo art, Haitian art...

"Loas 1" *** 30 x 120 cm ***

Artwork by Maxan Jean Louis / Haiti

After being an apprentice mason and encouraged by two confirmed painters, his cousins Henri and Eric Jean-Louis, he began to paint and quickly developed his own style. This almost self-taught discovery of the visual arts, far from any academicism, can make him qualify as a naïve painter. Haiti's voodoo culture and history are his main sources of inspiration. Depending on the circumstances, he adopts two very distinct approaches: to the ghostly human silhouettes whose lack of perspective, the repetition of ornamental motifs and the colors recall the Saint Soleil style, he opposes, on the occasion of social events that he intends to describe as a "visionary painter journalist", an almost childish surrealist style.

His works are presented in several American and European spaces. It is part of the permanent collection of the German Charlotte Zander Museum in Bönnigheim. He has participated in various group exhibitions, such as in France at the Musée d'Aquitaine in Bordeaux for the exhibition "Haitian paintings of voodoo inspiration", or in the United States at the "Haiti Art Expo" as part of the famous international fair Art Basel Miami Beach 2010.

Maxan Jean-Louis talks about himself and his art in Patricia Goodrich's 2014 multimedia installation called "Voices & Visions. Artists of Haiti »