24841: Cosentino (comment) Andre Pierre: Attention must be paid

[sak-pase@bimini.ws]

Donald Cosentino <cosentin@humnet.ucla.edu>


I saw Andre Pierre on Easter Monday at his compound in Croix des 
Missions.  He was obviously near death.  He was curled on the cot in his 
sitting room, and couldn't rise or speak.  I had seen him a year 
earlier, when he was still painting, though nearly blind.  Now the easel 
was gone, the paint box closed, that wonderful chair he had sat on while 
painting-the one all covered with painted spots like some Kongo spirit 
throne---was gone too.  All his children disappeared, except his eager 
son Judson, who showed me a calabash he had just painted in the style of 
his father.  It seemed surreal that such a famous artist would be dying 
without anyone taking notice.  But his links to the outside world are 
gone now too.  I met him through Rodney Flambert at the Centre d'Art, 
but Rodney died in 1999.   And Issa, his first agent, died last year, 
though his portrait still hangs in the sitting room.  So who is to note 
the death of this great artist?  It seems too ironic that in this season 
of death celebrations, when poor souls like Terry Schiavo, who knew no 
one, become international celebrities, that Ganga Pierre should die 
alone and unmarked.  Is there anyone in Haiti who can bring us word of 
his condition?  Who can assist this mentor of Maya Deren, this  
re-inscriber of the Vodou pantheon?  Attention must be paid to the 
passing of this great philosopher and artist!