Gerard Caliste
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Gerard Caliste (born April 27, 1979 in New Orleans Louisiana) is an American painter. Caliste got his start in art in 1994, when he became involved in the world renowned Art Organization Young Aspirations Young Artist, YAYA founded by Artist Jana Napoli in 1988. This Organization profoundly changed his life. In the years that he attended YAYA, He had the opportunity to become a working artist while still in his teens, he work under established artists such as Willie Birch and Nanette Carter; producing art for a long list of private collectors, and companies including MTV,Swatch, The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival ,Oprah Winfrey and NFL players . He exhibited his work in New Orleans, New York, Savannah Georgia, Cologne Germany, Amsterdam Holland, and through out the United States. In Dec 1994 his designs was chosen as one of seven international Artists that was commissioned to create designs that would be replicated into a woven fabric by Blumenthal. The fabric would then be turned into seat covers that would cover all of the Delegates seats of the United Nations general assembly room in honor of the United Nations 50th anniversary in 1995. In the fall of 1997 he entered the Savannah College of Art and Design, after being awarded a Portfolio Scholarship. That same year he and his work was featured in a book by Author Claudia Barker called YA/YA: Young New Orleans Artist and Their Story Telling Chairs. The following year his work was published in the International Design year book , Schopfheim1998. He and his art appeared on several nationals televised broadcasts. During his studies in Savannah he was able to find a direction in his work and fine tune his style. While most of the works that he created in YA YA was of painted three dimensional furniture pieces such as chairs and coffee tables, his college years was a chance to explore more traditional aspects of painting. After obtaining his BFA in Painting, Caliste moved to Houston Texas to work as an Art Teacher for the Houston Independent School District. Teaching at a very culturally diverse school gave him another source of inspiration, seeing how his students art reflected who they are and where they came from, gave him a renewed sense of appreciation of his own work. Caliste work began to take on a more narrative theme and deeper meaning to him personally, with subject matter that would be reflective of the things that would be reminensance of an urban settling with a somewhat New Orleans flare. It was the things that he grew up seeing and knowing.
His work is like a place that we all know in our hearts and mines, without being too specific, it is more of a feeling of familiarity. The figures in his work embody a presence of a humanistic soul. The essence of his paintings draws in the curiosity of people from all races, social classes, and education.
[edit] Works
Waterline series coming 2007 "Too Many Burdens" 2006 oil on Canvas
