“Centro Abreu” Celebrates 10th Anniversary with Poker Face/All In Exhibit

 Eastern Santo Domingo, July 26, 2018 – The “Centro Abreu,” situated in the eastern section of Santo Domingo, will celebrate its 10^th anniversary with the exhibit Poker Face/All In, featuring the work of artist Oscar Abreu.  It will also feature a cultural program that will include conferences and workshops.

Beginning Thursday, July 26, Abreu will open his latest and most extensive exhibit to date – Poker Face/All In – featuring 60 works that include paintings, drawings and sculptures.

Well-known national and international artists, and representatives from the cultural sector, will meet at the Center beginning at 7:00 p.m. One of the Caribbean’s most important gallery owners, Walter Otero from Puerto Rico, has also been invited.   Otero is included on the list of the top 500 gallery owners of the world.

“It is a true privilege to have with us such a high-caliber personality.  Especially during the opening of this exhibit, which to a great extent is my contribution to Dominican art, which offers a different and quality-centered content,” explained Abreu.

The Abreu Center is an ambitious cultural project that began in 2006 through Abreu’s initiative, with the goal of strengthening and supporting local art.

The exhibit Poker Face brings together an ample collection of Abreu’s art work that has been exhibited in various venues in the United States, especially in New York, where he was issued a special award issued to outstanding citizens by Councilman Ydanis Rodríguez, as explained by Abreu, and also by Seny Taveras, from Hostos Community College and CUNY in The Heights.

On Saturday, July 28, at 6:00 p.m., art historian Gamal Michelén and art critic Abil Peralta Agüero will both speak on Dominican art from different perspectives.

Both experts will discuss Dominican contemporary art, as well as the challenges faced by Dominican artists at the international level.

Michelén, who will speak on Dominican artists and State policies, is an architect by profession and is originally from the border region province of San Juan de la Maguana.  He is also a professor of the history of art, and has been invited as a guest speaker on this and other art-related issues to the United States, Panama, Costa Rica, Cuba and Puerto Rico, among others.

“In the Dominican Republic we have had excellent artists, such as Rodríguez Urdaneta, García Godoy and Sisito Desangles, as well as a true golden age of art with the arrival to the country of great artists, especially from Spain, such as Gausachs”, explained Michelén.  He also stated that “…we understand that culture, which naturally flows because it is intrinsically tied to all human groups, must receive the support of the State.  This does not mean that the State will control the artistic endeavor, but it should undertake the role of facilitator and sponsor.”

Professor Michelén was Vice Minister of Culture in the year 2000, and is currently president of the Dominican Association of Art Critics.  Until recently, he was the director of the Guernica Art Gallery.

Abil Peralta Agüero is recognized, both at the national and international levels, as a first-class speaker on the arts.  He is a members of the International Association of Art Critics.

After their presentations there will be a special panel discussion with Puerto Rican gallerist Walter Otero, moderated by the Center’s Curator in Chief, Amable López Meléndez.

At 8:00 p.m. that evening Abreu and Puerto Rican artist Carlos Santiago will carry out a joint performance.

In 2002, Carlos Santiago won the prestigious Alfonso Arana Master Scholarship which took him to Paris to conclude his superior art studies. He is a graduate of Puerto Rico’s School of Fine Arts.

Dominican critic Abil Peralta Agüero says on artist Santiago that “…his paintings …speak to us of humanism and challenges…of the urgent cohabitation with the animal world, and speaks to us of love as the cohabitation of the spirits and as a playful stage for pleasure.”