Page 390 - Arte e Historia
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Danilo De los Santos
Silvano Lora. (Santo Domingo, 1931/2003). Multifac- acrylic/canvas, 88x55 cm., 1987 v «Diego Colón Ancient
eted artist, studied at the ENBA and his first solo exhibi- House,» acrylic/canvas, 76x101 cm., 1991 v «La Atarazana. Co-
tion was in 1951. Critics praised his qualities as a drafts-
man and painter who decides to travel abroad and lived lonial Monuments Series,» acrylic/canvas, 75x100 cm., 1987.
in France until 1977. In Paris, Rome and other European
cities recorded personal exhibitions and presents antiwar
atmospheres and staged art with multimedia. In 1961 he Fernando Peña Defilló. (Santo Domingo, 1928).
returned to his homeland and founded Movimiento Arte
y Liberación and also Frente Cultural in 1965, painting With a great record in local and international exhibitions
murals and posters. He was expelled from the country for (Spain, London, Bogota, Paris, Havana, New York…) he
political reasons, and lives in Panama where he becomes reaches six individual exhibitions held from 1953 to 1980,
supporter of the Panama Canal sovereignty. War, mili- presenting the latter year «Sobre la materia y el espíritu» at
tary interventions and social oppression will lead him the Gallery of Modern Art of the Dominican capital. He
to a very personal pictorial discourse, unconventional is a maestro, not because of lessons taught in classrooms,
in the use of extra-pictorial and recycled materials with but because of his distinctive style that delves into the es-
symbolic and figurative compositions marked by a con- sentials of belonging and life without mimesis, with breaks
temporary expressionism. and conductive synchronicities. He «voluntarily immerses
us in the intimate nuances of his topics and his carvings,
«Intitled» mix and collage/canvas, 75x55 cm., 1987 v with an extraordinary handling of the collage, implement-
ing serial and glued masks, more mystical ontological refer-
«Composition,» acrylic/canvas, 86x60 cm., 1982. ences, combined with pure abstract form devoid of values
as moving spiritualization, similar to dark expressionist
spectral faces that occupy impact levels on his canvas.
José Cestero. (Santo Domingo, 1937). Remarkable
After the speech «Sobre la materia y el espíritu,»
drafter and painter, with a presence in numerous col- other chapters followed: «From the beginning» (1983),
lective and individual exhibitions until 1985. That year «Parallel Worlds» (1985), which relates to the series but-
he holds the exhibition «Mirando a través de la cuesta terflies and «Anima Mundi» (1993) and other visionary
del vidrio,» which determines his discursive guideline proposals about god people, wild hearts, light universes,
towards urban landscape, focusing on the colonial archi- deposits reflective of his location in Jarabacoa. The ret-
tecture. Cestero knows the area since childhood, so the rospective anthology «The Eternal Return» (Centro León
landscape as in Felipe de Pisis (Italy 1896-1956) is cap- 2009) together with, the National Arts Award granted by
tured on linear touches, mild or harsh and automatic, the Dominican State (2010) are references that are writ-
disturbing as repetitive and joyful, as it occurs later when ten on this spiritual maestro and wise about the unmis-
he assumes other topics. The use of loose ranges and deli- takable fullness of life.
cate touches, submissive, almost cartoonish when add-
ing human subjects to his architectural views: His style «About the Material and The Spirit,» mix and collage/
is overwhelmed, repetitive and unique in the history of
Dominican art, and in addition, is neo-expressionist. paper, 84x60 cm., 1981 v «About the Material and The Spirit,»
«Beyond Plaza Colón,» acrylic/canvas, 50x75 cm., n.d v mix/canvas, 157x127 cm., 1984 v «Cayennes,» serigraph/paper,
«The Ancient Plaza Independencia,» acrylic/canvas, 121x128 50x86 cm., 1985.
cm., 1984 v «Plaza Colón. My Childhood Moments Series,» José Perdomo. (Santo Domingo.1948).Trained at the
acrylic/canvas, 1986-1987 v «Partial View of Casa de Curas,» National School of Fine Arts (1962-1965) and Pratt
Graphic (1968-1969) of New York, where he lives. With
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