Marcel Pinas in Paris
LATITUDES 2006-TERRES D’AMAZONIE

From December 15th until January 27th , well known Surinamese artist Marcel Pinas will be participating in the exhibition “Latitude 2006” which will be held in the popular Hôtel de Ville , which is the city hall of Paris, France.
The opening of this exhibition will be held on December 14th in the presence of art critics and the participating artists of the “Latitudes 2006” exhibition.

The Latitude 2006 exhibition is the fifth in the series of Latitude exhibitions of which the first was held in 2002.
At this since then yearly returning exhibition in Paris, contemporary art of each time a different overseas area is presented, and the participating artists are personally chosen and invited by the organizers of the exhibition.
The visitors of the exhibition are given the opportunity to become familiar with art from areas dispersed over several world oceans; art which under the influence of varied historical, geographical and cultural backgrounds, gives life to a new form of expressiveness and creativity among its individual artists.

The theme of the “Latitude 2006” exhibition is the “Terre d’Amazonie” meaning the countries of the Amazon.
At this exhibition contemporary art of varying media, originating from the countries French Guyana, Brazil, Colombia, Guyana, Suriname and Venezuela, will be exhibited.
The French public and all other visitors will be able to enjoy modern art from the overseas Amazon area to which the French colony French Guyana belongs. The organization hopes to confront the visitors with a less familiar side of this far away colonial territory, which together with the other participating countries belongs to the Amazon region.

At this exhibition Suriname will be represented by Marcel Pinas, Surinamese artist who has garnered the attention of art lovers worldwide with his culturally inspired art expressions.
Marcel Pinas has participated in international exhibitions many times before in countries such as French Guyana, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Trinidad, Jamaica, Brazil and the United States.
At the Latitudes 2006 exhibition the artist will be present with his art installation “G.L.O. School te Pelgrimkondre”. This art installation consists of several wooden school benches (from the maroon village of Pelgrimkondre) decorated with acrylic and oil paint and also aluminum spoons and traditional oil lamps.
With his art the artist aims to increase public awareness with regards to the urgent need to protect and preserve valuable cultural traditions of the descendants of the Surinamese maroons. Consequently, Marcel Pinas often incorporates utensils, signs and symbols from the cultural background of the N’dyuka maroon tribe to which he belongs, into his art.

This exhibition is Marcel’s first invitation to participate in an exhibition in Paris.
In 2007 the artist will start a two year residency at the Rijksacademie in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Furthermore, on November 16th the permanent art installation “Reconnecting Africa” by Marcel Pinas was unveiled in the Tropen museum in Amsterdam. The artist was commissioned by the museum management to create this installation which forms the transition between the new permanent Africa exhibition and that of Suriname and the Antilles.
All in all, a career with many milestones.
Marcel Pinas is a talented and ambitious young artist who in his relatively young career has enjoyed a multitude of memorable moments and great achievements.

The exhibition “Latitudes 2006” is open to the public from December 15th until January 27th daily from 10:00 -19:00 hrs, except on Sundays and holidays.