Renold Laurent
Cambridge, MA
Renold Laurent's paintings are rooted in imagined dialogue with his audience and between mixed media, cultural history, the present, and our collective future.
Message
Rénold Laurent is a Haitian artist currently based in Cambridge, MA. His dynamic and expressive paintings are rooted in imagined dialogue with his audience and between mixed media, cultural history, the present, and our collective future. He was born in Source Bretoux, a village at the foot of the Marbial Valley—a few kilometers from the city of Jacmel, Haiti. This small corner of the world might have existed in obscurity, except that it produced four of Haiti’s most famous painters: Castera Bazile, Wilmino Domond, Célestin Faustin, and Fritzner Lamour. At the age of ten, Rénold began to draw and paint under the direction of his father, Maccène Laurent, a primitif artist. Very early, he was inspired by the cultural life of his rural environment, including Rara festival music, Carnaval, and the architecture of Jacmel.
In 1995, in his quest to continue improving his painting techniques, he took many trips between Jacmel and Port-au-Prince to open his mind and learn more about other artists. It was through the books and catalogs of the Alliance Française library in Jacmel that he began to discover the works of Manet, Cézanne, Monet, Daly, Kandinsky, Klee, Pollock, and the names of great Haitian painters such as Hypolite, Tiga, Cédor, Lazard; these research trips had a profound impact on his artwork.
A few years later, he incorporated new perspectives and techniques into his paintings. He considers abstract painting to be the most expressive way to explore the extraordinary powers of the imagination. Laurent has collaborated with several cultural Haitian institutions, and his paintings have been exhibited in Haiti, France, and elsewhere. In 2019, he received the Heimark Artist Residence Award from Brown University's Center for the Study of Slavery & Justice. Most recently, he participated in a documentary and digital exhibition, "This Life: Black Life in the Time of Now" by the Miami Museum of the African Diaspora, Miami MOCAAD.
Exhibitions
Individual Exhibition:
2019 - Individual Exhibition, “Memory Work” Gallery at the Center for the Study of Slavery & Justice; February 15, 2019 - May 10, 2019.
2018 - Individual Exhibition, Mary L. Fifield Gallery at Bunker Hill Community College; Boston, MA; May 21–July 27.
2015 - Individual Exhibition at the Brazil/Haiti Cultural Center, Petionville, Haiti; April 10–30.
2014 - Individual Exhibition at the Casa del Joven Creador; Santiago, Cuba; July 3–12.
2011 - Individual Exhibition at the Brazil/Haiti Cultural Center, Haiti; July 12 -August 10.
2008 - Individual Exhibition, Centre d’Art, Port-au-Prince, Haiti; April 25–May 9.
2006 - Individual Exhibition at the French Cultural Center; Jacmel, Haiti; April 28–May5.
Group Exhibition:
2023 - Documentary and digital exhibition "This Life: Black Life in the Time of Now" by the Miami Museum of the African Diaspora, Miami MOCAAD; December 2023.
2022 - Group Exhibition, “Racial Slavery, Marronage & Freedom” - Center for the Study of Slavery & Justice; September 23, February 25.
2017 - Group Exhibition, “Haiti aux Grands Voisins,” organized by Haiti Futur and Haiti Action Artistes - Paris, France; June 21–25.
2013 - Group Exhibition, “Haitian Art in Transit,” Logan Airport; Boston, MA; January–March.
2012 - Group Exhibition, “Mémoire d’une ville imaginaire,” Nantes, France; January–February.
2011 - Group Exhibition, “‘Quand Nos Pinceaux ont Tremblés’: En Mémoire des victimes du séisme en Haiti,” Boston City Hall; Boston, MA; January-March.
2005 - Group Exhibition, “Noël vu par les peintres,” the Haitian Art Museum; Port-au-Prince, Haiti; December-January.
2005 - Group Exhibition, “Tendance de la jeune peinture haïtienne,” the Haitian Art Museum; Port- au-Prince, Haiti; May–September.
2003 - Group Exhibition at the French Cultural Center, Jacmel, Haiti. 28 April- 6 May.
2002 - Group Exhibition, the Watercolor International Biennal of Mexico, The Watercolor Museum; Mexico City, Mexico; November–December.
1996- Group Exhibition, “la Femme jardin,” the Municipal Library of Jacmel; Jacmel, Haiti. - 25 April - 05 May
Prize :
2019 - In 2019, he received the Heimark Artist Residence Award from Brown University's Center for the Study of Slavery & Justice.
1998- 1st prize in a painting contest organized by the French Cultural Center to commemorate the city of Jacmel's 300th anniversary, March.
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.
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.