Culture will pay tribute to artist Disla Guillén

Culture will pay tribute to artist Disla Guillén
Santo Domingo, 02/08/2013

The Ministry of Culture, in coordination with the Inter-American University (UNICA – Universidad Interamericana) and the Dominican School of Plastic Artists (CODAP – Colegio Dominicano de Artistas Plásticos), will pay tribute to renowned painter Félix Disla Guillén (Negro Disla) for his admirable work and dedication to the Dominican arts and plastic arts.

This event will be held on Saturday, August 10, at 7:30 pm, in the Ramón Oviedo Art Room at the Ministry of Culture, where the exhibition “Fantasías Cromáticas (Chromatic Fantasies),” by the artist, will open.

The ceremony will be headed by the Minister of Culture, José Antonio Rodríguez; the Rector of the Inter-American University, Gabriel Read; and the President of the Dominican School of Plastic Artists, Clinton López, among other officials of the Ministry of Culture.
The event will feature entertainment by various artists, such as maestro Crispín Fernández, musician; Edwin Disla, Director of the National Choir; Luis Rafael Jiménez de Marchena and Ismael de la Cruz, singers; Milcíades Tavarez, reciter; Teresa Ortiz de Marchena, poet; Cuarteto Melodías de Elevación, and Trío los Juglares.

The painting exhibition will consist of 37 pieces of the illustrious master of the plastic arts who, despite his more than 90 years of age, continues carrying out his creative activities.
“In my work I prefer to have movement, because that is what life is, a constant change. It is varied and I am like it: I work on a variety of themes,” Félix Disla Guillén said.

At the exhibit, the viewer may assign the topic or the title to each piece, as the artist intentionally has omitted providing any clues in order to promote fellowship and dialogue with his creations.

For the artist, “Chromatic Fantasies” provides testimony to the master of drawing’s skills, techniques and color with an impressive mastery of the curved line, of light and of the transparent overlapping of colors.

It is his sixth solo exhibition since his return to the Dominican Republic in 1991, where he continues to enrich a career spanning more than fifty exhibitions in the United States, Latin America and Europe.

More about the artist Félix Disla Guillén

Born in the city of Santiago, on February 25, 1922, since childhood he had a passion for painting and his dream came true when he enrolled in master Yoryi Morel’s painting academy.

He continued his career and later adopted the technique of lights and shadows, the proportions of portrait and the human body, going so far as to convey the brightness, spontaneity and joy that characterize Yoryi Morel’s work; hence, during this stage, Negro Disla is considered a representative of realistic mores (realismo costumbrista).

He served as professor of painting and drawing and later became director of the Santiago Academy of Arts. In 1955 he moved to Santo Domingo and devoted himself to architecture and painting.