EXIL, LEVOY
Levoy Exil – Exil is one of the five big artists of the Saint-Soleil group. He was born in Soisson-la-Montagne, a small village not far from Port au Prince. His father was a farmer and his mother was a vegetable peddler. He has a primary school education. He farmed in his early life and then became a mason before becoming a painter. Exil met Tiga in 1970 and started painting with other individuals that eventually became the Saint Soleil. His work is inspired by “the effect of my visions that come when I sleep”. His dreams and the reference to voodoo are a constant source of his art.
An intense and serious individual, Exil believes in his past lives and is haunted by the story of Atlantis. The memory of the Arrawak Indians lives on more vividly in his feelings than that of his African ancestors.
Exil has participated in all Saint-Soleil exhibits and collaborated with Tiga and other artists in his group on a posthumous homage to Andre Malraux. After a misunderstanding with Tiga, he created Fleur Soleil, exhibited in the U.S., Israel, France, Poland and other parts of Europe. His success and travels have not changed his peasant lifestyle. He feels strongly about art as being “a heavy thing sinking in a tub, its thunder like the rays of Saint Soleil”.
One of the best known of the artist community, Exil taps the sources of and finds his roots in his dreams. He has a complex spiritual life, believes in past lives, and relates more to the Arrowak Indians than his African ancestors. His work is poetic, almost calligraphs of the inarticulatable. He has exhibited all over the world, and collectors prize these highly expressive works.
