A Few Words with Illustrator Jean Patrick Icart-Pierre

Today, we’re featuring a brief interview with Jean P. Icart-Pierre. This Haitian-born artist, educator and OMB illustrator has called Brooklyn home for the past several decades. We found his answers as poetic and profound as his artwork.

One Moore Book: When did you realize that you wanted to create art?

Jean Icart-Pierre: Wow, I don’t even remember. I think it might be right out of the womb. I came out of my mother’s womb with a brush in my left hand and a pencil in my right hand. In other words, from the very beginning.

One Moore Book: If you weren’t an artist, what would you be?

Jean Icart-Pierre: Sorry, I don’t think I can be anything else. I’ve already decided, art is forever…give me art or give me death.

One Moore Book: Who inspires you the most? Why?

Jean Icart-Pierre: I don’t think there is that one artist, because there are different ones for different reasons. I like David Salle, for what he does with space. He forces the viewer to look and think twice at once. I like Jackson Pollock, Raushenberg and Basquiat, because of how they force you to think out of the box. And Jacob Lawrence for how he insists on telling his story and focuses on the struggle for freedom and justice.

One Moore Book: Thank you Mr. Icart-Pierre.

You can find Jean Patrick Icart-Pierre’s work in “I Am Riding”, a trilingual title by M. J. Fievre. Several weeks ago, LitWorld distributed this title to their LitClubs in Haiti. Check out our book and the wonderful work of our partners at LitWorld here.