Henri robert Bresil

....................A TRUE STORY.......... It was on a bright sunny day at the market place in Petion Ville when I first met Bresil. It was during my visit in Sept 1997. As I was buying some local fruits from a vendor, a small skinny man came to me asked me for five dollars. The man was very confident he would get the money as he signaled another vendor to wait a minute to get paid. I looked at the man from head to toes in amazement. Very superstitiously I looked at him not knowing if he was a spirit in disguised or an envoy of one. For it is well known that a poor beggar in a Haitian market inflicted with painful infirmities could very well be a great soul in transit. One scorn, disdain or verbally abuse him at one's own peril. So I immediately handed over the money. After he paid the merchant he came back and very politely introduced himself.

 He was not a beggar or a bocor or an angel, for he was the original Haitian Caribbean painter Henri Robert Bresil. we were instantly connected. He was very confident of himself and always referred to himself as Bresil. "I'm Bresil" he would say often. We talk talk and talk..... We agreed that we were lead by the same star as we both were born under the sign of Virgo and it was herald that we artists met here and now. He visited California, Florida, New York, Peurto Rico, Mexico he told me. He went on and on...... We spend the whole day talking. He spoke fluent French and Spanish but he constantly would introduce Spanish and English words between sentences.

 All that plus the fact that all his fingernails were painted in different colors lead me to the conclusion he was abnormal or not an ordinary person not to say outright crazy. He flirted and was all over my American girlfriend, so I cannot say he was gay. I had a Haitian art book with his name listed in it but did not make much of it. Haiti is a country full with artists.

 And I myself is one. Nonetheless, I was fascinated by his presence. There was something about him, something very mysterious, something I could not grasp. Anyway, he gave me an address and told me to visit him anytime I was in Haiti. I in turn gave him many of my clothes including this Calvin Klein t-shirt you see in the photo. The following year 1998 I went to the address he gave me and the locals told me he no longer lives there and that he was ill and went totally mad. I was very disappointed, but a few days later I visited Francois Sannon the sculptor who had his studio on the main road in Kenskoff and as we were talking Bresil name came up and he told me he knew where he was. So we went to the market place in Kenskoff and there was Bresil sleeping on a mat in the far edge of the market. He looked different. He looked ill and wretched. But he was so happy to see me. He regarded me as a lost brother. It was like I came to save his life.

 He was overwhelmingly happy to see me. He again asked me for money and I gave him $50.00 dollars which surprised him as he looked at me in amazement. He then changed it to Haitian currency and then marched in all 4 corners of the market place. He distributed all the money and in less than half an hour he was again penniless. So I went to an older woman who was selling peanuts and ask her the meaning of the theatrical scene and she told me that Bresil owes everyone in the market place but that they all loved him dearly and he get whatever he wanted from them to survive. She went further and told me that was where he lived. Anyway, we had a great time. Had many laughs.

 We took pictures like the one below. We ate lots of mangoes and drank many cocoyers. 

Then he decided that I should have some of his work. We went to Taumassin where he had family. In a locked shed in the dirt yard, they came out with 10 paintings all 24"x36". Waterfalls, plantations, and Vegetables which I never knew Bresil painted vegetalbles (larmes Veritables). The shed was like was a bank account they kept for Bresil, the uncle told me that they reserved these paintings in case of emergency. For Bresil was not responsible enough to handle money. They offered me all the paintings at $400.00 each provided I buy them all. Did you hear that?... $400.00 each... Even though I had the money, I automatically refused. I told them that I was not a collector nor was I a dealer. The people were stunned. They told me Bresil never came with anyone here before to ask anything. And that I was very special to have been offered all the Bresil's paintings for so cheap and that Nader Gallery was selling a single one of that size for over $1800.00 in those days. Bresil himself was very disappointed. He looked at me with his big light brown eyes and told me straightforward that " You will seriously regret it one day", I promised them I would be back tomorrow and get at least one. But I never came back, I spent the rest of my vacation in Saut D'eau with my family. The following year when I came to Haiti I learned that Bresil was dead. The great Bresil is dead. I was shocked, it was as if a part of me died. It was really saddening especially under the circumstances of his death. He went to the large market place in downtown Port au Prince "Mache Croix Bossale" where he was an unknown. He went and grab something to eat from a local vendor and was beaten to death by a mob.My experience with Bresil left me heartbroken. It left me with a yearning or search that became an ever ending experience. In Haitian art, I long for something that I don't really know what it is. It has something to do with those words of Bresil when with a very sad face he uttered those dreadful words " you will seriously regret it one day". Those words come back whenever I heard his name. He offered me in his last days all that he possessed and I rejected him. Maybe that could of been a ticket to redirect his life. I will never know. Since then to make up for the loss, I met over 100 artists and I have now bought and sold hundreds if not thousands of Haitian paintings by great and lesser-known Haitian artists. For better or for worse Bresil had changed my life. 

I now represent more than 30 living and deceased artists. Now, whenever I go to Haiti. My suitcase is full with cell phones, play stations, tubes of paint, canvases, vitamins and

 Viagra. 

Joseph

--------Fast forward 20 years later. I finally found what I was looking for all these years. what is it then Joseph Cantave?....Well... What I have been and been continually  looking for is my ownself. It is a question that every life  faces.....One's identity here and now.  .Not the one on the birth certificate That idedntity is the true passport to real voyage one is already on..... My identity,  Trying to grasp who am I... or I'am....better yet who is  I'am?,,, Well... Have I grasped it correctly? I don't know. /what do you mean?  well It is more like a process, a processed-awareness of becoming "I'am" or "I'am" becoming. If that makes any sense. AH AH HA.LOL It comes in stages including degrees of decoupling..... Looking at oneself outside of oneself.

Joseph Cantave 2020.

To  be updated in years.