Artist: Philippe Dodard
Sep 14, 2013 – Feb 07, 2014
This Fall, Community Folk Art Center presents “The Idea of Modernity in Haitian Contemporary Art ” featuring art work from Philippe Dodard. Through bold brush strokes and vibrant color combinations, graphic and visual artist Philippe Dodard, critically engages and empowers audiences throughout the world. Dodard, who was born and raised in Haiti, studied at the Academy of Fine Arts of Port-au-Prince and the International School of Bordeaux, France, where he explored pedagogic graphic design. Dodard’s artistic style is a direct reflection of his personal connection to various political, social, and cultural movements in Haiti.
As curator Babacar Mbow explains, “The presence of the African masks in the work of Philippe Dodard allows thinking on the richness of the intertextual relationships in African Diaspora Art. Dodard paints a mythology that is both individual and collective through the use of anaphors, for construction of an aesthetic language capable of expressing the specificity of African Diaspora culture”
As his social and political reach continues to extend, Philippe Dodard will continue to use his art as a viable platform through which social awareness, growth, and progress can be accessed and appreciated. “My work builds on the socio-historical experiences of African Diaspora and indigenous peoples of the Americas. I am interested by the crevasses of history and how they allow slippages, contours, detours, appropriations and contestations.” He says.