Jean Renel Pierre Louis (Prensnelo)
Address: Sans Souci, St George’s, GRENADA
Email: prensnelo56@gmail.com
Biography
Prensnelo is a Haitian-Grenadian painter, whose mixed media/collage artworks embedding vévé symbols and fabric, explore Caribbean identity, planet Earth and female forms. He has participated in art residencies in Grenada, Haiti, Switzerland, Romania, China and France, and his work has been exhibited there and in other countries.
He began exhibiting publicly in 2000, when he participated in a collective show with ten Haitian artists, including Jean-Claude ‘Tiga’ Garoute, co-founder of the Saint-Soleil post-naïve school of Haitian painting. He visited Grenada in 2014 to participate in a one-month visual arts/cultural and research residency – to create new painted works based on the historical connection between Haiti and Grenada. As part of the residency, he held a week-long workshop with five local artists, which culminated in an exhibition titled Amitye. The residency was expanded to 8 months, during which time Presnelo relocated to Grenada. Prensnelo subsequently became a citizen of Grenada.
Inspired by Haiti's Tiga ‘Artistic Rotation’ method of teaching, through his membership at the Alliance Française in Grenada, hosted several cultural (language and art) activities and classes for children and adults. In 2015 Prensnelo co-founded creative learning space/gallery Sans Souci Arts Studio (SSAS), as well as AMICAL, a Haitian-Grenadian cultural centre. Through SSAS he co-facilitated a one month Empowerment for the Disadvantaged environmental art workshop for 17 male inmates at Her Majesty’s Prisons, funded by UNESCO (2015). Through Amical, he facilitated a 6-week art camp for underprivileged children of The Queen Elizabeth Home for Children (2016). During a week’s stay in Spodnji Brnik, Slovenia (2015), he facilitated a two-day cultural exchange and art workshop with students at the Mengeš Elementary School.
Prensnelo’s various artworks explore Caribbean identity, culture, history and tradition, and take the form of mixed media paintings on paper, canvas and wood. Normally resident in Grenada, since 2019 Prensnelo works between Grenada, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and England.
Grants/Awards
2023 Eccles Centre Fellowship, British Library, London, England
2022 CATAPULT Arts Grant funding, Kingston Creative, Jamaica
Solo exhibitions
2024 Ebony Fine Art Gallery, Grenada
2014 Prensnelo 20 Years, Hotel Ibo Lele, Pétion-Ville, Haiti
Residencies
2017 Open Spaces, Feutersoey, Gstaad, Switzerland
2016 Haiti Promart Atelier D’art International Exhibition, Pétion-Ville, Haiti
2016 Artists Association Yinchuan International Art Camp, Yinchuan, China
2016 21st edition of the Inter-Art Foundation Aiud Art Camp, Romania
2016 Boz’Art en Baz’Art International Art Symposium, Vichy France
2014 Sans Souci Arts Studio Visual Arts/Cultural Residency, Grenada
2014 Haiti Promart Atelier D’art International Exhibition, Pétion-Ville, Haiti
2013 Haiti Promart Atelier D’art International Exhibition, Pétion-Ville, Haiti
2012 Haiti Promart Atelier D’art International Exhibition, Pétion-Ville, Haiti
Art Facilitation
2016 Amical Art Camp, The Queen Elizabeth Home for Children, Grenada
2015 UNESCO Empowerment for the Disadvantaged, Her Majesty’s Prisons, Grenada
2014 Paradise Lost - Climate Change Mural, GSPCA, Grenada
EXHIBITIONS
2024 Take Away Art Auction, Sandals Resort, Grenada
2024 Infinite Futures: Celebrating Grenada’s Golden Jubilee, Grenada National Museum
2024 50th Independence Historic & Art Exhibition, Olympic House, Grenada
2022-2015 Parallax International Art Fair, Chelsea, London, England
2018-2014 Fundación América ‘Cristoforo Colombo-Amerigo Vespucci,’ Dominican Republic
2017-2015 Annual Exhibition, Grenada Arts Council Inc, Grenada
2016-2012 Haiti Promart Atelier D’art International, Pétion-Ville, Haiti
2016 31st ASOROPA (Asia+Europe) Exhibition, Yepig Art Museum, Gunsan, Korea
2016 Artists Association Yinchuan International Exhibition, Yinchuan, China
2016-2013 Inter-Art Foundation Aiud, International Exhibition, Romania
2016 Boz’Art en Baz’Art International Exhibition, Vichy France
2016 52st Annual Exhibition, Grenada Arts Council Inc, Grenada
2015 Timelessness Show, Gabriel Fine Art, London, England
2015 Christmas Show, Gabriel Fine Art, London, England
2015 Autumn Show, La Galleria, Pall Mall, London, England
2015 Parallax International Art Fair, Chelsea, London, England
2015 Yellow Poui Art Gallery, Grenada
2015 Bacchanal group exhibition, Art Upstairs art gallery, Grenada
2015 4th Biennal d'Art de Corbera d’Ebre, Tarragona, Spain
2015 51st Annual Exhibition, Grenada Arts Council Inc, Grenada
2014 Friztner Cedon/Fundación América ‘Cristoforo Colombo-Amerigo Vespucci,’
Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic
2014 25th Annual International Invitational Salon of Small Works, New Arts Program Inc,
Kutztown, Pennsylvania, USA
2013 Inter-Art Foundation Aiud, Romania Intercontinental Mail Art Exhibition,
United Nations Headquarters, New York, USA
2013 Voices & Visions, Artists of Haiti by Patricia Goodrich, Pennsylvania, USA
2013 Collective at Foundation Etre Ayisyen, Port au Prince, Haiti
2009 Collective at Brazilian organisation Vivario, Port au Prince, Haiti
2009 Collective at Centre for Research Development at the invitation of Calixte Clérismé, Switzerland
2005 Collective at Caabel Expo Africamerica (CNDDR), Port au Prince, Haiti
2003 Solo exhibition in Fort Jacques, Haiti
2003 Collective at Primivoce Gallery, the Dominican Republic
2001 Collective at MC Gallery, Murielle Leconte and Ricky’s restaurant-club, Haiti
2000 Collective: Symbiosis 2000 with Valcin II, Ralph Allen, Garry Laurent, Domon Melchiade, Pilou, Riboule Monfleury, Eddy Pierre (Baka), Pascal Merisier (Pasko), Tiga and Marithou