In the famed metal smithing town of Croix des Bouquets, amidst the banging and clanging of mallets, chisels, and knives on steel, you’ll find Josnel Bruno an active part of the soundtrack. He’s been turning out striking contemporary designs that deliver a lyrical mix of repurposed heavy industrial metal and organic design. His medium? Oil drum scrap metal, the rare reliable resource in this looted and burned arena. Studying with metal master Serge Jolimeau, Bruno refined his talent and learned to take risks. As a sculptor and surfacer, he is highly accomplished. And his very creations put us in several places at once. His elegant botanical vibe - his Lotus flower, its open petals gracious and incised into a bowl; his textured tree bark the form of an elegant tall vessel - belies his disturbing surroundings and just where he sources his supplies. Bruno lives in the most impoverished part of the western hemisphere, in Haiti’s epicenter of gang control. His superb metal works, and those of other leading sculptors in Croix de Bouquets, operate even as the streets have given way to gang warfare. Josnel ultimately found cutting and manipulating metal centering following a turbulent time. “After years of struggling to make a living, finally the world has discovered our artful town.” It’s a treacherous travel destination, but Croix des Bouquets draws tremendous artistic talent and increasing attention from collectors because of the masters like Bruno. A standout for his enterprising, experimental, often improvisational work, Bruno uses a surprising form for his Lotus bowl. Manipulating the metal to form snugly and smoothly over an old truck’s hubcap, the wheel’s lug nuts create the protrusions throughout the surface. He strips and seals the piece, a lustrous, variegated silver Lotus. The metal sculptor’s works have been exhibited in the Caribbean, Europe and the United States and sold to collectors worldwide.