Frantz Zephirin is considered the leading contemporary Haitian painter. A self-taught artist born in Cap Haitien in 1968.The nephew of Cap Haitien painter Antoine Obin, Zephirin began painting at an early age. He first sold paintings to the tourists who came to Cap Haitien in cruise ships. By age 13 he was selling to galleries, and moved to Port-au-Prince. There Boris Kravitz, our founder, immediatly saw his great potential. He purchased all that Frantz brought and gave him painting materials. There has been close, sympathetic relationship between Frantz and the Haitian Art Co. since then.

His paintings are frequently social and political allegories. Some of his paintings were included in the ground-breaking exhibit from the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, the Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou, and exhibits at the American Visionary Art Museum. In October 1996 he was awarded the Gold medal in the Third Bienal of Caribbean and Central American Painting sponsored by The Museum of Modern Art of the Dominican Republic. This competition featured 144 artists from 37 countries in the region. He was one of 5 Haitians to be included in the V Bienal in Cuenca, Ecuador in 1996. Zephirin has variously been described as a visionary, a surrealist, a visual satirist and is remarkable in being able to portray the battle between good and evil, and the interrelatedness of all living things. His work has been featured in museums and galleries around the world.

After a very close call with the earthquake Zephirin immediately went to work recording his visions of a violently transformed world. He had no choice but to paint, as he told Le Monde (Feb. 13, 2010), "I can only think of this. The earthquake. I walk in the devastated streets, I drink, I think, and I go back to paint. I do not sleep. I paint. I paint like I breathe." One of his paintings was chosen for the January 25th cover of The New Yorker.