I am a man from the South. I have always believed that the fact of having been born in Jeremie, Haiti constitutes a sort of duty to be an artist. To be born in Jeremie is to be an artist even before one starts to talk and walk. Sometimes, a Jeremien (people who are born in Jeremie) can doubt, over what artistic production he/she wants to embrace, but the winds that come from the sea and the gallops over the street of that city heat up the spirit of the people. Therefore, activate the creative capacity and incline that person to be a certain way, which is within the artistic mode, an artistic way of seeing the world.

          The same way it is said that the poem is the dance of reason; my South is the creativity of my North. Therefore, if Jeremie is the city of my dreams and of my mythical wanderings, Port-au-Prince has become the place of my certainties, of my reason, of logic itself. While Port-au-Prince is the city that forces me to anchor myself in what is real, Jeremie continues to be the core of my imagery. On the other hand, music has always fascinated me, Jazz most of all. Jazz transports me and I think that I am not mistaken if I affirm that many of my pictorial gestures are inspired by Jazz. It inspires me to bring life into my work.

         I was born in Jeremie on March 6, 1947. A year later, in 1948, my parents went to settle in Port-au-Prince, but the racket of the capital did not strangle in me the morning serenade of the winds of Jeremie. After a year, my parents were separated from each other. This fact was another tear of my life, after being moved away from my native city. This is the reason, perhaps, that my painting is one of shocks, of blows, which adopt naturally the themes of my migration. The pains of separation, of the court, of exile, are, for me, a known landscape and all other sufferings have one voice, that of the winds of my infancy in Jeremie, winds that come from seas. The same winds that "Boat People" defy. The trumpet of Miles Davis sings, as much the lament of desperate souls, as that of the bodies that are in the abyss of the cold water of the Atlantic. After the separation of my parents, I spent a few years in my father's bachelor apartment. I have to admit that he did all that was possible to distance me and drive me away from my artistic vocation. He threw away all my materials, under the pretext that they could dirty the furniture. However, these hold upon my artistic goals did nothing more than fortify them. The same thing occurred with my uncle Gerard Valcin, who at first did not show much enthusiasm toward my artistic vocation.

         Around 1966-67, my uncle introduced my works to the art galleries, and by 1969 I went to study in New York. I spent two years at the Brooklyn Museum of Art School. It was two intense-year of apprenticeship and I learned a lot during that time. Then I returned to my country in 1971 and I actively prepared my first exhibition. In January 1972, I organized in the Occide Jeanty Kiosk an outdoor exhibition in concert with some colleagues well known in the artistic milieu. Later on, I decided to abandon my ancient technique. I decided to burn about fifteen of my paintings. The smoke that rose carried with it not only my ancient painting, but also my ancient artistic. Then a new artist was born, so I decided to take on a new name "Valcin II". This day was the official birth of my new painting (style). I left behind my period of investigation; my time of trial and error; my phase of experimentation, to go on to a more mature, a more adult, and a more real production of the painting that I always wanted to create, a socio-expressionist painting. This word defines exactly the level in which I wanted to elevate my artistic constructions. Of course, my painting is compromised, but it is a sublimated compromise in its expression, which used the sophisticated forms.

           The first exhibition under my new name took place at Gallery Mehu, Petion-Ville in 1975. This exhibition was the most important one in my career because that was the first time the public would be introduced to my new orientation. It created a general astonishment in the Artistic milieu. Some of the critics said that they have never seen such painting before. No matter how many awards and/ or compliments I have received throughout my career, I can never forget the first “bravo”, the first praise, the first compliments and greetings from colleagues and critics who welcomed me into the world of Fine Arts. In 1977, I organize a “One Man Show” at the French Institute under the title of “Picto-Epique”. It was for me the moment to affirm in a decisive manner my artistic personality. After the opening night, Roger Gaillard, in an article in the “Nouveau Monde”, spoke of the “scream of Valcin II” this word perfectly describes my painting, which I would like to register as an incision made in the silence that hides the unhappiness of the disinherited. Sometime afterward, the Brooklyn Museum welcomed my paintings. After my return from New York, Pierre Monosier, the curator of the Museum of Haitian Art, organized in December 1978 an exhibition with two of my colleagues and friends, Jean René Jérome and Simil, and I. After the exhibition at the Museum of Haitian Art, I participated in another one in Santo Domingo with my father, Pierre Joseph Valcin and my uncle Gerard Valcin as well as other artists.

             In 1980, the Socio-political situation of the country created a vast emigration of the peasants, handy man, and some of the middle class to leave the country in search of a better life elsewhere. It is this “searching for life” that is found in my production of that period. We shall remember “Boat People” in 1979 and “Zafra” in 1980 that showed the horrors of the sea and of the Dominican sugar cane fields, “bateys”. “Cris des Bidonvilles” in 1977 and “Bal la Fini” in 1981 are two main pieces that point out the determination of the people to fight tyranny, poverty, and sufferings. “Invocation a Dessalines” and “Carnaval des Damnes” in 1980, indicate the will of the exploited to fight against those who want to “zombify” them. “Brin d’espoir”, in 1985, shows the end of dictatorship. “Lan Lombray Inosans”, in 1985, signals the rebirth of life. “L’attente de la Delivrance”, in 1975 emphasizes the rising consciousness of the Haitian people and their faith in the final victory against oppression. “La Delivrance”, in 1985, enunciates the necessity of a c-section (cesarean section) when natural methods and time are not enough for deliverance. These same themes are taken into consideration for the exhibition entitled “La Democratie en Marche”.

            Just by looking at my paintings, one can perceive an intense dialogue between my lines, my colors, my traces, and the person looking at them. In my opinion, my work constitutes a true parade that reflects the emotions of those who contemplate it. The genesis of my canvas is made from the most abstract of emotions. Anything inspires me. The barking of dogs, the chanting of the roosters, the hissing of the tap taps, the shrieking of women who have lost their children, the sirens of the ambulances or the police cars; the rhythm of Jazz music, of rara dance, of carnival, of Yandalou, of Ibo, of Petro, and of Congo. In short, the assembling of noises, music, and dances contribute to my creativity.