Haitian art is prized all over the world. This much is known from the dozens of books devoted to it, the global exhibitions, and the high price tags, and high auction bids. But some of these masters behind this art legacy have long died, and those who haven’t are no longer actively painting, while still yet others have already reached their apogee. This leads one to ask oneself, who will take over when these artists are no longer around? Where are the emerging masters?

Yael Talleyrand will be among those who are taking over the reigns, and heralding a new generation of young painters in Haiti’s visual landscape. And that ain’t no bull. Barely settled into her 20s, the Port-au-Prince-based painter has a style that will snatch your eyeballs from everything else, and get you to affix them on one of her pieces. One of her pieces entitled “Nadie en el mundo”, for example, the painter has depictions of four different women. No, it’s the depiction of just two women and on the reverse side are images of these same women, but this time they’re stripped down to their brown flesh. The first woman’s face is covered with elaborate lace, and her eyes are averted. Another figment of lace covers part of her chest, and the rest of her body is bare. She’s settled on a bed that’s as stripped as her body. Is she a “lady of the night”? Though her face is concealed from us, it’s still easy to see that her demeanor is far from joyous. She looks oppressed, hopeless, dejected. And the other woman in the frame? She’s clearly a new figure, though she bears a slight resemblance to the first woman. She’s well-endowed, and her body bears some of the lace that covers the woman in the first frame. Now, their kinship is firmly established. Now again, are the other two women in the next two frames, the next two generations of women in this family line, or are they reflection of the first two women in their youth? But the last two women look to be the same age as the first woman, so this supports the second theory—the theory that the painting just depicts four generations of women in their pains. Could this painting be about mental illness? There’s so much pain in the expressions of these women, as if the said pain got passed on from the first woman on to the others, and became more intense with each passing.

“Nadie en el Mundo”, a most intriguing painting by Yael Talleyrand. Copyright Yael Talleyrand.

Kreyolicious: Tell us about yourself.
I like to think of myself as a art hustler, totally refusing to adopt or settle down with a specific medium and interested in all the areas surrounding the arts: entertainment, event planning, art teaching, design, production, and most importantly promoting artistic expression as a universal language. I am utterly obsessed with painting and drawing, but went to art school for videography. I’m so close to my camera, I consider it an organ, an extension of my eyes. Of course, being from a family of multiple generations of artists has highly influenced me choosing this as a career path. The way I was raised made it that not for one second was I ever away from artists or a studio.

Kreyolicious: When did you realize that you had some talent as a painter?
Well, I started art school not liking painting. Or painters. I thought it was too complicated of a medium, and that the people that mastered it seemed to all have this ego issue… I took my first mandatory painting class at seventeen, with master painter Timothy App, and the first painting I brought to class was done so carelessly my teacher asked me to tell him about the truck that hit my piece before class. He said he did not care how little I wanted to paint, everyone leaves his class a painter, regardless of what their intentions were before. I don’t know what he did to my brain, all I cared about after that class was painting every time I got a chance.

Kreyolicious: Has anyone ever said anything about your art or about the art world as a whole that made you want to give up?

I have gotten discouraging comments, but that would not be why I’d give up. I know art is completely subjective and that no one’s perception of what I do can truly define it. More importantly the satisfaction I get out of making art has very little to none to do with outside approval. It is more the instability in this field that has had me on the verge of giving up. You can never know how next week is going to be, or where you’ll have to be next month. And at times, I break down and want to stop and do something “normal”, but that would be like erasing my entire life.

Kreyolicious: Sometimes parents have their concept of what their kids should become. And who can blame them. They raised us, they nurtured us, and they spend nearly all their resources on us, be it their time and/or their money. Do you feel parental support in terms of your career choice?

One-Hundred percent. I’ve always gotten the top of the line art supplies growing up, plenty art books about all the artists relevant to what I was doing, was pushed to make art all the time as a kid… Both of my parents are artists but only my mom works in the art field. However I think at first they would’ve rather seen me study something else, knowing that due to my upbringing I would end up making art regardless of what I studied. Though, they also knew how limiting an art education would be when it comes to finding something to do in Haiti down the line.

This concludes Part I of the interview with Yael Talleyrand. Please watch out for PART TWO.

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Yael Talleyrand, an artist based in Port-au-Prince will no doubt be among the ones being celebrated the same way the artists from last century are being lauded at auctions and exhibitions.

In Part I of my interview with her, we talked about how she got her start, and we also discussed about where business meets art. Now, follow along as we talk about creative blocks, and her future as a visual artist.

Kreyolicious: When people think of visual art…they don’t think that just like writers can have creative blocks a painter can have creative block too. I know I didn’t even think about until recently when I started to interview visual artists. Do you experience blocks?

Of course. Usually it happens when I am asked to paint something specific. It’s like being forced to talk about something you have no opinion about. Also, if I am painting about something that confuses me or that I have mixed feelings about.

Kreyolicious: How do you usually deal with this?

Then I just switch pieces and work on something else. It is very rare that I will not want to paint at all.

Kreyolicious: Do you have any unfinished paintings?

I dont think of paintings in terms of finished or unfinished unless its a commission. A lot of time I thought I was done with a piece, and later on ended up needing to make drastic changes to it for it to convey what I wanted to say. Sometimes I start painting on impulse, based on something I am feeling very strongly at that particular moment and later on, as the feeling fades off, I lose motivation to finish the piece or stop feeling as if it is relevant. In that case I either start over or let the piece be and forget about it.

Kreyolicious: Are you particularly picky when it comes to choosing tools to paint? What are some of your must-haves?

Not as picky as some masters, but I love for my oils to be rich in pigments. I like for my gesso to be creamy and do not like to have to substitute it for house paint, like some artists do here due to the lack of materials — or soap for brush cleaner. I like sharp square paintbrushes, long and flexible palette knives, lots of blades, and I love having access to art stores not to feel limited in any way whatsoever in my choice of materials. I’ve found it however to be very confining to think like this and it creates blocks. I’ve been recently in some situation where I’ve had to create work with absolutely none of the materials I am used to, painting with a spoon and hibiscus tea as ink for instance.

Kreyolicious: Do you feel that there are misconceptions about female visual artists out there?

Women tend to be underestimated in all fields. Art included.

Kreyolicious: I was shocked to see Paul Gaugin and Van Gogh on a list of artists who died broke. But these are people who lived decades and centuries ago. I think that not only artists these days are more keen to making their artistic lives sustainable, but there are a whole lot more outlets and opportunities in our day. Does the business woman in you ever have to fight with the artist in you and vice versa?

I am emotionally attached to my work, thus making it very hard for me to see as the business it needs to be to allow me to live off of it. The reason why positions such as patrons, managers and advisers for artists exist is because it isn’t obvious for the individual creating to be able to handle all the different aspects surrounding their work by themselves. And I would lie if i said I didnt struggle with that every day, but I am getting closer and closer and having that balance.

Kreyolicious: What’s the best thing that’s happened to you so far?

As an artist? I guess being blessed with hundreds of creatively inclined people as my entourage and getting to constantly gravitate from art space to art space learning more and more from other artist. Other artist help me grow considerably.

Kreyolicious: Where do you hope to take your career?

The art world is magical, best is to keep creating and letting the destination be a surprise. I definitely want to do something relating to art education in Haiti, as well as owning a gallery or art store there. As for the rest I am leaving it up to the Universe.

Kreyolicious: What advice would you give the Yael of five years ago maybe…in terms of what’s coming ahead?

I really wish there was an actual way for me to go back five years and tell that Yael that it isn’t necessary to try to morph herself into something that is socially acceptable, an artist needs to learn to accept their true nature in order to produce the best and truest work they can. Back then I was very confused as to why I was so hard for me to be “normal”, or why I had no interest in so many things everyone seemed to die for; that confusion created a nightmare: it was very hard for me to accept what I felt were the right calling to follow, the right decision to make. But to be honest, I would probably not even say anything because going through that nightmare taught me so much—and am not sure I would’ve wanted to avoid it.

This concludes Part II of the interview with Yael Talleyrand. Did you miss out PART I? GO HERE.

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