Roland Saint Hubert: Constantly re-inventing himself

"L'artiste doit copier, imiter pour commencer... mais après des années de travail, il doit trouver son propre style"
- Roland St. Hubert

View a sample of the art of St. Hubert

Roland St-Hubert - Biography
Born 12.29.1951 in Port-au-Prince Haiti High School: Lycee Toussaint and Petion Studied at Académie des Beaux Arts. Exhibited in Haiti, US, France, Canada, Venezuela and Japan. Preferred color: purple

St. Hubert started painting at the age of 15. His uncle, the famous Emmanuel Ducasse had encouraged him and his brothers to paint. Like many before him, he studied Arts at Foyer des Arts Plastiques and The Academie des Beaux Arts in 1974. Later, under the advice of Tiga (Jean Claude Garoute) , he became a keen observer of the St. Soleil movement and style and he experimented with the motifs, colors and themes of that genre. Nevertheless St. Hubert will carefully take his time to explain to you he is not part of that School.

"I am not [part of] St. Soleil. St.Soleil was an attempt to return to intuitive painting whereby peasants who had ho art background would be given material and encouraged to paint. What they produced was thought to be inspired by Loa spirits. I am different. I was a witness of that experiment, and admittedly in some ways a portion of my pieces were inspired by St. Soleil, but I am an inventor and what I produced is a result of research and study of new styles"

"The journey to find one self, one's style needs a departure point. Many times, that point is in someone else's work. In art school we study impressionism, cubism. Picasso, Dali etc. An artist needs to copy imitate even, to begin a search, but after years of work, you must arrive at a style that is yours proper". " In my case, I am universal in my style."

Indeed, Roland St.Hubert's body of work is rather varied. Cubism, surrealism, abstract, landscapes and portraits, all vibrant witnesses of Roland's quest for identity but also his reaction to the moody interest and ever-changing taste of the customer, the art public.

At 52, Roland is a mature and respected artist who has made a name for himself. He has exhibited with success in Europe, in North America and the Caribbean as well as on various internet art galleries. But the journey not been an easy one for St. Hubert as his voice echoes suffering, hardships and disillusion.

St. Hubert describes a Haitian Art Industry dominated by a handful of art dealers and art galleries. With the scarcity of art supplies, lack of real support, a short supply of buyers and rare opportunities to exhibit, artists fall at the mercy of the galleries. In exchange for an opportunity to paint and make a living, many artists end up signing long term contracts that pretty much engage them to paint for the gallery as a contracted artist and whereby the gallery actually ends up owning the rights to just about everything the artist touches. With such arrangements, even when fame, national honors, and critical recognition are bestowed upon the artist it is the gallery that really makes money. And for many artists alas, [and in fact, this is not particular to just haitian artists or even only to artists] fame has a way of waiting until one actually passes away before it comes their way. "Once you die, asking price on your paintings automatically shoots through the roof..."

"Jean René Jérome told me 'My dear St-Hubert, you must be patient.' Indeed, I went through so much hardship, humiliation and hard work to get where I am currently".

View a sample of Roland St. Hubert's paintings.

More information:

Roland St. Hubert's website: http://sthubertgallerie.tripod.com

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