International Book Fair: Homage to Guillo Pérez Exhibition

The XIII International Book Fair of Santo Domingo was inaugurated with a painting exhibition titled “Homage to Master Guillo Peréz,” on the first floor of the Museum of Modern Art, located in the Culture Plaza.

Pérez expressed his gratitude for the warm welcome of his work over the years and for the distinction he received at this moment. He confessed that “if God gives me more time, I will continue creating art.”

The exhibition is showing 55 paintings of the celebrated Dominican painter under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture, the Museum of Modern Art, the Popular Bank and the General Management of the Book Fair.

María Elena Ditrén, Director of the Museum, spoke to those present about the history and contributions made by the well-known Dominican painter for which he is deserving of local as well as international recognition.

“Guillo Pérez has always brought honor to the name of the Dominican Republic, putting on more than a hundred exhibitions around the world; it is for this reason that today he carries the title of Master of Dominican Painting,” according to the Office of Communication and Audiovisuals of the Ministry of Culture.

Amable López Meléndez, recognized art critic and curator of this show, said “in the huge body of Guillo Pérez’s work, we have access to an emblematic landscape of light with the intense colors of sugarcane plantations, palm groves and rice fields; the roosters, oxen, carts, chimneys, sugarcane mills, twilight, marinas, sudden flare-ups and transparent atmosphere. In his recent work, he is reborn, he reaffirms his mastery and his reputation as one of the miracle workers of color and material in Caribbean painting of the last half century.”    

Pérez expressed his gratitude for the warm welcome of his work over the years and for the distinction he received at this moment. He confessed that “if God gives me more time, I will continue creating art.”

Guillo Pérez was born in Moca in 1926. He studied painting and graduated from the School of Fine Arts in Los Caballeros in 1950. He prefers to work in oil on canvas using a spatula to lay the paint thickly onto the canvas. His style is abstract expressionism and among other topics in his paintings, he paints colonial monuments (from Jerusalem), marinas, figures, landscapes, flowers, banana leaves and roosters.  

He is currently working in a more structured style, organizing recognizable symbols on the canvas. His themes include monuments (from Jerusalem), marinas, figures, landscapes, flowers, banana leaves and roosters.  He has shown his work in thirty individual exhibitions in the Dominican Republic and abroad and has participated in international group shows. His theme of sugarcane mills (carts, oxen and farmhouses) allow for contemplative and poetic visuals of impressive ambient light.

The exhibition, “Homage to Guillo Pérez” will be open to the public until July 31 in the Museum of Modern Art from Tuesdays through Sundays, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and throughout the duration of the International Book Fair from 9:00 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Paintings of the Master Guillo Pérez. .

Paintings of the Master Guillo Pérez..

Paintings of the Master Guillo Pérez. .

María Elena Ditrén, Guillo Pérez, Jeanne Marion Landais, Jorge Esteves and Enriquillo Amiama, at the inaugural act of the “Homage to Guillo Pérez” exhibition. .

Paintings of the Master Guillo Pérez. .

Paintings of the Master Guillo Pérez..