Fred Thomas 48"x36" African Mask With a Pop Art Twist Mixed Media on Canvas Painting #7CFT

Fred Thomas, the known Haitian-American artist, painted this original  48"x 36" mixed media on canvas, depicting an African mask with a Pop art twist. It is sold unframed. The artist said: "The Mask-Le Masque. Masks in most cultures serve various purposes: anecdotal, caricatural, representative, realistic, and ritualistic despite being essentially decorative.  My painting is obviously inspired by traditional African masks.  My mannerisms and bold use of collage with eyes of cut metal, a mouth made of a curtain ring, and hair made of beverage can tabs give the Mask its primitivistic look and powerful decorative presence.

Dans la plupart des cultures, les masques ont des fonctions diverses : anecdotiques, caricaturales, réalistiques et rituelles. Bien qu'ils soient essentiellement décoratifs.  Ma peinture est manifestement inspirée par les masques traditionnels africains.  Mon maniérisme et l'utilisation audacieuse du collage avec des yeux en métal découpé, une bouche faite d'un anneau de rideau et des cheveux faits de languettes de canettes de boisson, donnent au masque son aspect primitive et sa puissante présence décorative."

Fred Thomas was born in Fort-Liberté, Haiti, and grew up in Cap-Haitien in 1956. He started to draw at an early age, reproducing sketches created by his father. Soon, Fred began to polish these drawings and develop his own, denoting his precocious creativity and draftsmanship. In sixth grade, he was already a freelance commercial artist designing seasonal greeting cards, promotional posters, and banners. For many years after that, throughout middle and high school (at College Notre Dame), he was elected the director of the school periodical publication "Regard and Dialogue," which Fred tremendously impacted with his editorials and original illustrations. Upon moving to Port-au-Prince after high school, Fred took private drawing, painting, and ceramics lessons at Le Centre d'Art ( The Art Center) and Le Centre the Ceramic (The Ceramic Center). Fred was mainly interested in papier mâche, to make masks betraying an apparent African influence. He continued to pursue his strong interest in the visual arts when he moved abroad, first to Canada, then to the United States, and later to Germany while serving in the American army. His peregrination allowed him to visit numerous prestigious art galleries and museums. Upon residing in Miami, Fred enrolled in the Art Education Program at Miami Dade College. Since then, Fred's artistic career began. He has participated in countless art exhibitions throughout the United States, and his works belong to numerous prestigious collections worldwide. In an interview with the Miami Herald on November 11, 1990, Fred admitted wanting his artwork to reflect his Haitian background and experiences abroad. Subsequently, Fred's subjects, style, and technique vary from abstraction to surrealism and color field works where collage and heavy impasto-type texture have become his trademark. Fred’s studies have culminated with a BA in Religion and Philosophy and a master’s degree in psychology (School Guidance Counseling). Nevertheless, art has remained the passion of his life. Since 2009, he has devoted himself entirely to promoting his artistic career and has become a prolific artist and noted art curator. Fred lives in Miami, and when he is not painting, working on craft projects, or curating art exhibitions, he enjoys spending time with his family or writing poetry, short stories, and art criticism. Lately, Fred has created minimalist paintings using knotted ropes and recycled items, which, he says, give his creations a human and universal dimension by emphasizing the telluric effects. His art, he argues, is about the human experience on earth, epitomized by our daily struggle to survive, to affirm our identity, and also about our existentialist anguish, estrangement, loneliness, and despair, along with our hopes, dreams, and thirst for happiness. Fred co-wrote a seminal art book with Christian Nicolas (Kristo), "There and Beyond: The Works of Sixteen Haitian Artists Living in Florida. Fred was the illustrator of the Silver ADDY award-winning (2009) promotional billboard posters for Haiti’s wireless communications provider “Voila.” The design was created by the team of the well-known Seattle-based Advertisement Agency, Garrigan Lyman. 

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