Fred Thomas 40"x30" Chemiz Madiok (Patchwork Shirt) 2016 Mixed Media on Canvas Painting #5CFT

Fred Thomas painted this original  40"x 30" mixed media on canvas painting. This painting is an abstract patchwork shirt titled "Chemiz Madiok."

The artist said: "Chemiz Madiok: In this painting, I try to evoke the similarity of the patchwork with the Haitian madiok.  Madiok involves sewing small pieces of fabric (retay) by hand or using a sewing machine to create flannels, underwear, bed covers, dresses, shirts, tablecloths, etc.  Peasants mainly wore flannels and madiok-made dresses as everyday clothing because a voodoo spirit recommended them as penance or for other reasons.  Ordinary clothing was reserved for church on Saturdays or Sundays, festivities, and even city visits.  I make it a point to remind viewers of these significant customs from the past that have helped make Haitian culture so unique, amazing, and beautiful.

Dans cette peinture, je m'efforce d'évoquer la similitude du patchwork avec le madiok haïtien.  Le madiok consiste à coudre à la main ou à l’aide d’une machine à coudre de petits morceaux de tissus (retay) pour créer des flanelles, des sous-vêtements, des couvertures de lit, des robes, des chemises, des nappes, etc.  Les flanelles et les robes madiok étaient principalement portées par les paysans comme vêtements de tous les jours ou parce qu'elles étaient recommandées par un esprit vaudou comme pénitence ou pour d'autres raisons.  Les vêtements ordinaires étaient réservés à l'église le samedi ou le dimanche, aux festivités, voire aux visites en ville.  Je me fais un devoir de rappeler aux spectateurs ces coutumes significatives du passé qui ont contribué à rendre la culture haïtienne si unique, si étonnante et si belle."

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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