Fenol

Biography

Fenol Marcelin was born in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti.His work in school attracted immediate attention,as classmates invested him with questions for the betterment of their lesser ability.Remarkably,at age 14 he began to sell his art work through Nehemy Jean Gallery,in concert with his enrollment in the Academy des Beaux Arts: a child prodigy was evident. Traveling through the country in group showings with fellow artists led to the eventual destination of Montreal Canada,then on to New York City.

Although Fenol found new excitement and direction in his work in a new country,and his enrollment in a new program at the Art Students League of New York would not satisfy him.But he missed the milieu of the lush vegetation of Haiti that seemed to embrace his innermost need to be a part of the kinship and brotherhood between man and the ecology.His desire is to preserve and record in its absolute untainted beauty,that which is to be preserve,not ravished.

Fenol’s work has been shown in Europe,the Caribbean and the United States.His paintings consciously attempt to transcend his emotions by merging fact and fantasy,each nourishing the other.His analytical awareness and concern with the interplay of texture and light is a prime factor in his work.Each painting is a prayer that the sanctity of the jungles remained unchanged by commercial forces in order to provide a lasting natural beauty,and protect the ecology for future generations. He is a firm believer that Mother Earth will continue to offer mankind vast medicinal products if we do not destroy it.

Fenol moved to Florida to satisfy his alliance with nature that he longed for in Haiti.As an artist,he looks beyond the obvious surface to perceive the awesome environment with all of his senses.This gift transforms him into a thirsty,absorbing sponge while saturating in his own mysterious realities.

Artist Statement

"I was born and raised in Port-au-Prince Haiti, until i was eighteen years old. At an early age i was exposed to art through my father Levi, the art seller and my brother Reynold the artist, further influence came also from my surrounding neighbors. Back in those days art was everywhere,in the street corners,in the open markets, everywhere I went i was exposed to it. For many folks arts was away of life,so every day after i came home from school i would put my books away ,forget about home work,to me helping my brother paints was the only work i had desired.I was so certain and assured art would be my life time career. As a precocious fourteen year old i began my formal art training at the Academy des beaux Arts in Port-au-Prince Haiti ,while selling my work through the Nehemy Jean Gallery. My pursuit of an art career eventually led me to Montreal Canada then onto New York City. In 1981 after a couple years in New York i started hanging out in Washington square still searching for my identity.As an artist i was inspired by those street artists in the square,painting landscapes,portraits and performing street artists, that was my motivation and inspiration.

i wanted to study painting and drawing with Ted Seth Jacobs at the Art students League of New York,so i enrolled,unfortunately due to language barrier i left the program.But i’m still searching for my identity and finally in 1983 i decided to move to Miami Florida.Before i move to South Florida,i was predominantly painting figurative scenes,often images of Haitians performing mundane activities.But upon my arrival in this area i was immediately struct by the direct intense sunlight, the lush vegetation, and the tropical fauna (especially birds) which reminds me of Haiti. Soon i was producing crisply painted evocations of south Florida’s abundant natural beauty,and the landscape quickly became my primary subject.Despite the apparent accuracy of luxuriant rendering of nature’s splendor,the world i paint is actually separate from reality.I bestow my own idealistic spirit upon South Florida’s terrain.I’m inspired by my surroundings here in Florida.I go out into the everglades study nature,as i watch those birds in their own habitat and i took photographs to help me remember,and notice that these photographs serves as a medium and nothing else but to give me the chills and joy to be inspired.

But when i begin to paint ,my imagination takes over.Rather than factual recordings of nature,my pictorial idealizations are vehicles for the contemplation of a divine creation,a primordial paradise too perfect to exist on this planet.I paint to inspire others to preserve nature,i hope my work will help keep our natural beauty from being destroy."