Gregory Saint Amand

Cultural Curator On The Rise

By: Bianca Chardei

With a brush dipped in spirit and soul, Gregory Saint Amand—affectionately known as (GOGO)—emerges as a vibrant voice in contemporary figurative art. Of American and Haitian heritage, his work is a vivid tapestry where culture, color, and curiosity converge. (GOGO) weaves bright palettes and diverse mediums into compositions that dance between the playful and the profound, each piece a visual hymn to identity, resilience, and imagination. As his star ascends, so too does his calling: to illuminate the beauty of complexity through art that speaks without words.

MONARCH: When did your career as an artist begin?

GREGORY SAINT AMAND: I’ve been at this ever since I was a little kid, as long as I can remember. I come from an upper middle-class family in Haiti, where art wasn’t really looked at as a viable career. So I was continuously stopped by my grandparents, who raised me. However, they were enamored by my inability to stop. If they took a paper away, I would draw on my arms, on my back, on my hands. My grandparents recognized my passion and eventually gave in and allowed me to take drawing classes and stuff.

MONARCH: Where does your artwork or creativity derive from?

GREGORY SAINT AMAND: Nostalgia, my memories of growing up. When I was growing up in Haiti, there were a lot of people struggling with several problems, political and also economic problems. By chance, I grew up in a very good family, financially speaking. But I was allowed to play with all the kids in the neighborhood, whether they had money or they were living in a shack. They all came to the house, and we all played together and had fun. Some of the kids that didn’t have would ask to see the things that I had from being in America, which is where I was born, things like cornflakes. My grandmother would set up the table, covered with the flour or hot pepper oil cloth. She would put all the bowls there on the table for the kids and she’d pour cereal for all of us, and we would share in an American moment in a Haitian environment.

MONARCH: I’ve noticed that in your artwork, there is a blend of martial arts or combat sports. Do you practice martial arts?

GREGORY SAINT AMAND: Yeah, I used to. It’s funny; a lot of people that are creative are also physically creative, you know, with themselves, whether it be martial arts, dance, or whatever. I tend to gravitate toward martial arts, It helps me zone out a little bit.

MONARCH: How has your practice of martial arts influenced your creativity and approach to making art, whether in terms of discipline, movement, or mindset?

GREGORY SAINT AMAND: What it’s allowed me to do is go through doubt. So when we approach anything in life, whether it be creative, logical, or just day-to-day life, sometimes you encounter doubt, you encounter fear, you encounter danger. And martial arts has taught me to just see myself in the situation and move forward, accepting all that it brings, because I think if you don’t do those things, you just get caught outside looking at it and never participate. What you think is going to be a mistake leads to a beautiful outcome, and what you think is going to be a great decision leads to a mistake. Only taking that step allows you to see it, and I think that’s definitely something that I learned from martial arts.

MONARCH: Your work beautifully blends Haitian heritage with contemporary expression. How does your cultural background influence the themes and figures in your art?

GREGORY SAINT AMAND: I believe you are the best version of your ancestors’ products, what they survived. So I take iconographies of voodoo, and I sometimes put that in my art. I look at symbology from other cultures, like the flower of life, and I marry that to how the slaves would connect certain signs to certain saints.

I create visual sentences and visual analogies in my art. And I think that how we are now relates to how much we understand what’s happened in the past. So if I’m a warrior, if I’m an artistic warrior, then I think a good analogy for me is Ogun as a symbol. I find a way to make it palatable so people can be proud of our roots in some sort of way.

MONARCH: What do you want people to take away from your art?

GREGORY SAINT AMAND: I would like to fill their hearts with inspiration, warmth, and, through art, realize that we’re all the same.

MONARCH: Is there an artist from the past or current that you admire?

GREGORY SAINT AMAND: I like quite a number of artists. As far as contemporary, I like Guy Stanley Philoche. I think his work is beautiful. I also like Tim Okamura, and obviously I love Basquiat because of his ability to play on the canvas freely. I also admire Swan Lee for the same capability of playing with the canvas.

Although, some of my mentors don’t necessarily come from a painting background, even though they’re creative, for example, Spike Lee. And I believe fighting is an art, so I love to listen to older Mike Tyson, which is kind of bizarre, but I really enjoy the arc of his life from who he was to now. I would include Ali and Bruce Lee in that because he basically invented MMA.