by LVTY ART
You don’t count bodies in art…everywhere else you do..in politics you do [count bodies], in economics you do [count bodies], but in art, the only birth and death are ideas.
Places change. Time paints a picture. Born in Port au Prince, 1963, Carl Juste — a black multicultural, afro-Caribbean francophone — is as Miami as you can get. Like most immigrants, he has amalgamated his heritage and his environment into his identity. Through that same kaleidoscopic lens, he sees his art. Appreciating beauty in all its complexity is a crucial aspect of this all-encompassing point of view. To Juste, beauty should never be limited simply to aesthetics but should include the feeling of beauty, which is both deeply personal and universal. Carl explores the dichotomy between subjects that are both personal and universal with nuanced fluidity.
Whether it’s because of his years as a photojournalist at the Miami Herald or his academic abundance obtained from the rows of bookshelves in his parents’ book store, Juste is a wealth of knowledge. He credits his depth of understanding to his upbringing. His dad’s store Les Cousins, which opened in downtown Miami in 1974, carried books, paintings, and music that undoubtedly inspired him as a young man growing up in a prominent middle-class family.
“Your crown has been paid for; wear it well.” Words of fate from his father, Viter Juste, are now a mantra Carl is pulled by and chooses to honor to the fullest. As the chief architect of Miami’s cultural landscape, he has provided opportunities for many other artists. In addition to being an award-winning photojournalist, Juste has fine-tuned his eye for curating art and spaces. He can condense complicated ideas and processes into an easily digestible visual narrative. He describes this as a gift from the divine. He likens his talent to be able to see without the need for eyes. To what some may be unable to spot, Juste pays keen attention. Simple yet inescapable details like time, place, and context have top priority in his mind and work.
Last year during the pandemic’s peak, he displayed his gift in two of his projects: Exile at Home- South Florida Portraits of Isolation. Pandemic height, where he showcases how the pandemic has affected the people of Miami. He proudly declared his website Imagine Visions of Hope, a “visual catalog of human resilience, determination, and perseverance.” In this space, he exemplifies his belief that “what makes art authentic is the truth.” He describes art as an exercise of the mind and heart. He does not seek to display images of bodies but reveal their souls. Juste, who walks in his father’s footprints in being an intrinsic influence on the Little-Haiti community in Florida, is also a parent. Like most parents, he identifies his most remarkable work, not as an image or film, but sees his son become a man.
