ARTICLE - ARTIST BURTON CHENET KILLED

MURDER OF RENOWNED HAITIAN-AMERICAN ARTIST BURTON CHENET
(Defend Haiti) -

PORT-AU-PRINCE - Haiti and the art world are saddened by the murder of well-renowned artist Burton Chenet on Tuesday at his home in Port-au-Prince.

Burton Chenet was 55 when he was gunned down Tuesday night by an armed individual, who also injured his wife, in the residential area of Turgeau in Port-au-Prince. More information about the murder has not been reported, and law enforcement has not made any arrest.

Chenet was born in New York, to a Haitian father and an American mother, and his family returned to Haiti when he was two years old. A product of two cultures, Chenet returned to the United States for high school, where he received his Bachelors of Fine Arts degree from the School of Fine Arts in New York.

Living between Miami and Port-au-Prince, Chenet took advantage of having an eclectic background. He used iconography that was fundamentally Haitian in techniques, themes and colors; embracing Haitian masters and many schools of art. Chenet accented his Haitian work with contemporary concerns of his generation, being the pioneer in merging Haitian-Americanism through art.

Chenet was a professor of visual arts at the Ecole Nationale des Artes in Port-au-Prince, was the recipient of many international awards, and is a staple at exhibitions featuring Haitian, Creole or Caribbean artwork.

The violent death of this renowned painter threw a great consternation in the comunity of artists.

Many in the community have taken to heart the death of this artist. The Ministry of Culture, the National School of the Arts (ENARTS) and the former director of the Pantheon Museum of Haitian National (MUPANAH), Robert Paret, have condemned the crime and described hisdisappearance as a huge loss for Haiti.

The Head of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) Mariano Fernandez expressed his sorrow, calling for the arrest of the cowardly assassins. He expressed the hope that "justice is done, and that this barbaric act, and all those which preceded him do not remain unpunished."

The Haitian community has expressed its condolences to the artists family and wishes a speedy recovery to Mrs. Chenet.