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Gerald Dorvelus (1959- )

I’m Gerald Dorvelus. I’m a painter and an actor. I started to paint in 1988-89. I’m from the first class of ENARTS (Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts). It is a school of art. Our class inaugurated the Museum of National Pantheon. I studied the history of art, culture, and literature.

At one point I didn’t want to paint. Instead I was writing poetry and doing theatre. When I started to go to a friend Gesner Armand’s atelier, he encouraged me to paint, but I was not really interested. One day he gave me one canvas and a brush and paint. I didn’t know what to do. Then he said, “I’m giving you something for life.” I didn’t realize that it would lead me to being a painter. He also told me one day that artists suffer, but it doesn’t continue to the end of our existence. Then he told me, "I am giving you this and you will always remember me." Since then, I have painted.

When I work, I love to sing, because I am very spiritual. I love the Virgin Mary. I love yellow and blue. Actually before working, I sing a song to the Virgin Mary. Suddenly I feel complete. I hadn’t realized what I was going to paint and then I paint the angels and flowers. Even when things on earth are not good, we are not lost. My life is painting.

This painting for the International Atelier exhibition is dedicated to my mother who passed away October 22. That is the first canvas I have done since her death and it is to her memory. Then, I dedicate to all of the artists who came from all over the world to be here and especially to the organizer Patrick Cauvin.

Translated by Jean-Hugues Cauvin