According to Michele Grandjean's book, Artistes en
Haiti, Pierre Louis Riche was born in Cap Haitien on October 19, 1954, into a
family of farmers. He completed secondary school up to "philo" class.
At the age of 20 he began to paint, in the atelier of the grandmaster of the
North, Philome Obin. For almost twenty years, Riche painted historic subjects,
then he turned to his present preferred subject matter , "Les Grosses
Patates", the big potatoes. He says that it cheers him to see people who
are obese, although he, himself prefers to stay "thin and sexy". He
claims also to have never in his life seen a painting by Botero, whom he is
sometimes accused of imitating. Riche's work is finely executed and richly
colored. Riche lives in Port-au-Prince
with his wife, a hairdresser, and their five children.
