Jean-Claude Garoute

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Jean-Claude "Tiga" Garoute (December 9, 1935 – December 2006) was a Haitian painter and sculptor. Born in Jérémie, Garoute co-founded a museum of ceramic art in Haiti named Poto-Mitan. An abstract painter, he participated in art festivals throughout the world.

Tiga and Maud Guerdes Robard founded the Saint-Soleil post-naïve school of Haitian painting. The school was born when they offered farmers in Soisson-La-Montagne, a rural area near Port-au-Prince, drawing and painting materials. Out of the movement came such painters as Levoy Exil, Louisiane St-Fleurant ([1]), St-Jean, and Dieuseul Paul to name a few. The movement drew the eye of French author André Malraux who dedicated a chapter to it in his book L'Intemporel.

Tiga also created Kaytiga, a gallery and cultural center where he taught children and adults art through his Rotation Artistique (Artistic Rotation) method. The method consisted of letting pupils roam freely from clay to drums to paint to ink.

In his own paintings, Tiga often used his "Solèy Brile" method, a combination of ink and acid.

Tiga died in December 2006 in Florida after suffering from cancer. Haiti's February 2007 carnival was dedicated to him and embraced the theme Solèy Leve (Risen Sun) to evoke the Saint-Soleil movement he co-created.

[edit] References

On Arnold Antonin's video-documentary Tiga-Haiti: Rêve, Possession, Création, Folie. (This article offers more details on Tiga's life and philosophy.)
Article on Louisanne St-Fleurant (Fr)
Schutt-Ainé, Patricia; Staff of Librairie Au Service de la Culture (1994). Haiti: A Basic Reference Book. Miami, Florida: Librairie Au Service de la Culture, p. 112. ISBN 0-9638599-0-0.