Frantz Zephirin was born on December 17th 1968 in Cap-Haitien. He is, by his reckoning, the 24th of 48 children sired by his father (with 19 different women). Zephirin was raised by his grandmother near her voodoo compound in Cap-Haitien before moving to Port-au-Prince at the age of 16.

Zephirin started painting colonial houses in 1973 with the Haitian master Antoine Obin, but very quickly pulled away from the stylized school of the Cap artists. Presently his work is instantly recognizable by the human figures with animal heads-representing his deep cynicism for the ruling body. His very creative and original style soon captured the attention of the art world in Haiti and his career took off very rapidly. His favorite artist is Celestin Faustin.

Zephirin’s work is characterized by its bright colors, patterns and tightly compacted compositions. Extremely prolific, his imagination is powerful and his social commentary is devastating. His inspiration comes from history, political events the bible and voodoo mythology. It is his desire to take his paintings further into the fantastic. To truly understand Zephirin’s work one needs to know the facts and the humorous subtleties referring to contemporary Haitian history and spirituality.

Zephirin is a well-traveled individual who has shared his vision wherever he has been. His seemingly unlimited imagination, talent and drive has opened numerous avenues to show his work internationally.

Selden Rodman, art historian and one of the original promoters of Haitian art, featured Zephirin in a show entitled “Haiti’s New Stars”. In October 1996 he was awarded the Gold medal in the Third Biennial 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 Biennial in Cuenca, Ecuador in 1996. Two of his paintings were featured in the show and catalog “Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou” that toured the United States in 1997 and 1998. He is currently working on several exhibitions for the spring of 2002 in Pittsburgh and Washington, DC.

Frantz Zephirin is one of the most sought after contemporary Haitian artists. His work is in great demand and we feel that he will be one of the select Haitian artists collected well into the future.

His work “The Resurrection of the Dead” was featured on the cover of the New Yorker on January 25, 2010.

The painting, full of eyes of horses, snakes, octopus with human head, birds, zibra, and other magic creatures, represents voodoo mythology and believes.  His works represents surrealism and are featured in museums and galleries around the world.