The Caribbean Syncretism of Sacha Tebó´s Work

“The Painting of Sacha Tebó as Poetry of the Archetypes” opened at the Arawak Art Gallery. The show, which includes the artist´s representative work, consists of fourteen paintings and drawings done in the encaustic medium, a hot wax-based medium, and four sculptures in bronze and aluminum.

Tebó has been recognized as one of the most important artists in the Caribbean. His painting technique is widely appreciated for it characteristic elements.

Tebó has been recognized as one of the most important artists in the Caribbean. His painting technique is widely appreciated for it characteristic elements. His work, very colorful and creative, reflects his personality and his own hallmark. His sculptures, full of imagination and simple, yet nearly minimalist movements, seem to challenge the very space they´re in and take over the atmosphere, poetically balancing between forms and the material…

“With the same technique as the encaustic used on the ancient El Fayum funeral portraits, Tebó, using myths and archetypes of religious syncretism of the Afro-Caribbean with clothing and signs, discovers the universality of magic in the heart of the single experience, local and concrete…” commented art critic Laura Gil in her article “”The Painting of Sacha Tebó as Poetry of the Archetypes.”

Sacha Tebó was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti in 1934. He earned a degree in architecture, a profession he pursued for years and one which always accompanied him in his vocation as a painter which he had since he was a child. He employed the age-old encaustic technique in which he mixed bees wax with natural pigments that served as a base for color his art work.

He began in the 1950s-60s showing his work in group shows in France and Spain then went on to have one-man shows. He showed his work in important galleries in various places such as France, Holland, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Miami, Chicago, California and Houston as well as Haiti, Puerto Rico, Curacao, Saint Croix and other important cities in the Caribbean.

Arawak Art Gallery. Rafael Augusto Sánchez Street No. 53 Piantini. Tels. 809.563.7860 / 809-565-3614.

Afrodita, bronce fundido

Damas y Ganzas, encaustica.

Paisaje y Caballos, encaustica