Three Art Exhibitions to Close the Year Out at the Museum of Modern Art

“Proyectos” by David Pérez, “Proceso” by Fausto Ortiz, and “Re-Vuelta” by Raquel Paiewonsky, will be on exhibit until February 2009

…the three shows will reunite a body of work with a renewed spirit of medium and form, notable creativity and a refined sensitivity.

The Ministry of Culture plans to bid farewell to 2008 at the Museum of Modern Art (MAM) with three important exhibitions by three well-known Dominican artists.

The opening, scheduled for Friday December 12 at 7:00 p.m., will display the work of Fausto Ortiz, David Pérez and Raquel Paiewonsky under the title “Proceso”, “Proyecto” and “Re-Vuelta.” Each one of them will show a selection of their work which is done in various mediums, representing various genre including painting, installation, video, photography and performance.

According to the Museum Director, María Elena Ditrén, the three shows will reunite a body of work with a renewed spirit of medium and form, notable creativity and a refined sensitivity.

The show is part of the Modern Art Museum´s support for young talented artists who, with their work, are promoting a process of aesthetic renewal of contemporary art in the Dominican Republic.

In “Proceso,” Fausto Ortiz is presenting an overview of his photographs from when he began in 1998 until today. The exhibition is made up of some forty photographs on paper, in black and white and some small and medium pictures in color.

Ortiz, from Santiago de los Caballeros, graduated with a degree in architecture in 1993 and began to take pictures in 1998 after having participated in a course given by the Santiago Photography Group (GRUFOS), where he met a group of experienced photographers.

His most recent shows include: “Inside and Out” The Cultural Center of The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Washington, USA, (2008). “30th International Photo Festival Knokke-Heist”, Belgium, (2008). “Deidades Ajenas”, Dominican American Cultural Institute of Santiago D.R. (2007). “FACE Off” Casa Dominicana, Patterson New Jersey, USA, (2006). He was the Dominican representative, along with Gerard Ellis, in the most recent version of the Biennial in Cuenca, Ecuador.

Raquel Paiewonsky is showing her installations, photographs and paintings in her presentation of “Re-Vuelta.” Raquel Paiewonsky was born in Puerto Plata but lives and Works in Santo Domingo. In 1991, she graduated from the School of Design in Altos de Chavón in La Romana. She had her first individual show in 1992 in the Nouveau Art Gallery.

She went on to study at Parsons School of Design in New York City where she established herself and lived for ten years. Over the years, Raquel has explored painting, sculpture, installation and photography and in many cases, has combined more than one of them. Whole Being (Lyle O. Reitzel Gallery, Miami, Fl.- 2006), Vestial (Centre Martiniquais d`action culturelle Martiquais-2004) and Vestial (Chapel of our Lady of the Remedios/IV Biennial of the Caribbean. Santo Domingo-2001) are several of Raquels´s individual shows.

She has participated in the following group shows: Infite Island – Curated by Tumelo Mosaka, Brooklyn Museum, NY (2007). Latin American Points of View-Daros Latin American Collection, Bochum Museum, Germany (2007). The Game of Difference. The second-last photograph and video in Santo Domingo, CIRCA 07. Organized by the Museum of Modern Art in Santo Domingo in Puerto Rico.

She also showed in “Away Femmes,” a Diaspora Creativity and Intercultural Dialogue project. UNESCO, Paris, France (2007) and Art Americas, Miami Beach Convention Center, Booth Gallery, Lyle O. Reitzel, Miami Fl. (2007). Among the prizes she has received is the Grand Prize of the E. León Jiménez Contest, in its last two editions.

“Proyectos” by David Pérez, sponsored by Arte-Estudio, touches on video, photography, drawing and performance. He is showing three pieces: “The Left Side of the Track (Al tramo izquierdo),” a performance video done in “The Performance Route;” a drawing installation of “Intermittent Border Line” and photographs of “Tangential Point.” The latter is a performance to be done on the day the show opens at the Modern Art Museum.

“Al tramo izquierdo” is an action video document done in “The Performance Route,” in which a bus from the OMSA is full of Haitians sitting on the right-hand side of the bus while Dominicans fill the left-hand side.

The “Intermittent Border Line” is a geographical contact drawing of Haiti and the Dominican Republic where the East-West limit is only one single point and the “Tangential Point” is a performance that shows a metaphor shared by the inhabitants of the island that form part of the united structures in a common place where one has his/her needs and different interests but always on the same platform.

These exhibitions will be open until February 22, 2009 in the Museum of Modern Art of the Dominican Republic. The Museum is located on Pedro Henríquez Ureña Avenue, at the Juan Pablo Duarte Culture Plaza from Tuesday through Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.