Plastic artists Guillo Pérez and Soucy de Pellerano were recognized posthumously

Plastic artists Guillo Pérez and Soucy de Pellerano were recognized posthumously
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, July 24^th 2014

The Ministry of Culture (MINC) presented the families of artists Soucy de Pellerano and Guillo Pérez the Posthumous National Award for Plastic Arts, corresponding to the year 2013. This is the highest recognition granted by the Dominican government to an artist for his/her career and contributions to the development of the national art.

Minister Rodríguez highlighted the merits that were considered by the Ministry of Culture and the Selection Committee for presenting the award to the families of Guillo Pérez and Soucy de Pellerano.

The ceremony was led by the Minister of Culture, José Antonio Rodríguez, who chairs the Selection Committee, which is composed by María Elena Ditrén, Director of the Museum of Modern Art; Marianne de Tolentino, Director of the National Gallery of Fine Arts; Myrna Guerrero, Director of the Bellapart Museum; Carlos Acero, President of the Dominican Association of Art Critics (ADCA); Clinton Samuel López Torres, President of the Dominican Association of Plastic Artists; Mildred Canahuate, President of the Association of the Art Galleries of the Dominican Republic; and, Danilo de los Santos, independent cultural manager. All of them joined the Minister at the ceremony.

Minister Rodríguez highlighted the merits that were considered by the Ministry of Culture and the Selection Committee for presenting the award to the families of Guillo Pérez and Soucy de Pellerano.

The Posthumous 2013 National Prize for Plastic Arts has been awarded to Guillo Pérez because he was one of the greatest promoters of color and the meaning of the homeland in the Dominican painting of modernity, and also because he was the creator of aesthetic and visual symbols in which the essential identity values ??of being Dominican transcend.

For her part, Soucy de Pellerano was awarded the Posthumous 2013 National Award for Plastic Arts for the vitality and diversity of her experimental work in the areas of painting, sculpture and performance, and for being a pioneer of in the kinetic art and a teacher to generations in the Dominican Republic.

The National Award for Plastic Arts (PNAP – Premio Nacional de Artes Plásticas) is presented to a teacher of visual arts in our country, in recognition of his/her career and contributions to the development of the national art.

In 1995, the presentation of this award was stopped for 15 years, and resumed in 2010. The presentation of this award was made ??twice a year since its first edition and until 1995. Since 2010 it is presented on a yearly basis.

This award was established by Decree 278-93 of October 12, 1993, and was replaced by Decree 597-10 of October 23, 2010, which provides for the establishment of the Selection Committee. That same year, the Posthumous National Award for Plastic Arts was established. It has been presented to renowned teachers Gaspar Mario Cruz, Luis Martínez Richiez, Clara Ledesma and Silvano Lora.

Since its inception, the award has been presented to teachers: Darío Suro (1993), Antonio Prats Ventós (1995), Fernando Peña Defilló (2010), Ada Balcácer (2011), Domingo Liz (2012) and posthumously to: Cándido Bidó, Paul Giudichelli and Gilberto Hernández Ortega.

The 2013 award was recently presented the maestro Ramón Oviedo for being a leading figure of contemporary Plastic Arts, and for his undeniable contributions to the national art, expressed in his massive symbolic production of high social content and contribution to the development of the Dominican plastic language.

Biography of Soucy de Pellerano

She was born in Puerto Plata in 1928. Sculptor, painter, drawer, printmaker, stage designer, installer and performer. She was one of the most versatile artists of the Dominican Republic. She graduated from the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo in Pharmacy and Chemical Sciences. She joined the National School of Fine Arts in Santo Domingo where her teachers were Domingo Liz, Noemí Mella, Jaime Colson and Paul Giudicelli. The latter was the one who had the most influence in her education and who introduced her to geometric expressionism.

In 1967 she staged her first exhibition using a technique she called “marbled”, which consisted of throwing semi-liquid colors on the canvas. Later on, she applied a glaze to this technique and called her new experiment “marbled glaze”.

In 1979, Ms. Soucy creates her large mobile sculpture “maquinotron”, which revolutionized sculpture in the Dominican Republic. The sculpture was created using discarded elements from automobiles to which she added music, lights and motion. With this work she introduced the mechanization in Dominican art. An endless researcher, in 1968 she developed the period she called organic. In 1970, she began her experimental period in which she included extra pictorial elements such as onionskin paper, wood, screen, and dry flowers, among others. Later on, under the influence of her science fiction readings, she began her machinist period.

Her exhibitions and recognitions include the award to the first tourism poster to represent the Dominican Republic in Uruguay; the 1970-1971 first prize for drawing and second prize for painting in the León Jimenes competition; seconds prize for painting in the 1972 X National Biennial of Santo Domingo; first prize in the 1982 FAO art contest; and, the Special Prize at the 1990 XVII Biennial of Santo Domingo.

The set of works called “Estructo-palanca-maquinorum” at the 2007 National Biennial of Plastic Arts of Santo Domingo was dedicated to her as a tribute to her career.

Guillo Pérez Biography

Guillermo Pérez Chicón (Guillo Pérez) was born in San Víctor, Moca, on March 3, 1926. He was the son of Francisco Guillermo Pérez Chicón and Ana Luisa Chicón de Pérez, originally from Guauci.

In 1946, he studied music and religion at the Santo Cerro Catholic Seminary. Then, he studied six years of violin and music theory. He graduated from the School of Fine Arts of Santiago. He practiced natural landscapes in the workshop of his uncle Yoryi Morel.

In 1952, he became professor and founder of the School of Fine Arts of La Vega. In 1958, he won the “Editor of the Caribbean Award” at the IX National Biennial of Plastic Arts, and in 1960, he won the award at the X Biennial.

In 1970, he participated in the “II International Painting Festival of Cagnes-Sur-Mer, France, where he won an Honorable Mention and was appointed Professor and Director of the National School of Fine Arts.

The Minister of Culture, José Antonio Rodríguez, presents the Posthumous 2013 National Award for Plastic Arts to Willy Pérez, son of Guillo Pérez. He is accompanied by, from left to right, María Elena Ditrén and Carlos Acero

Federico and Walterio Pellerano Castillo receive the Posthumous 2013 National Award for Plastic Arts from the Minister of Culture, José Antonio Rodríguez, conferred to Soucy de Pellerano. From left to right, they are accompanied by María Elena Ditrén and Carlos Acero.

Overview of the invited guests at the ceremony of presentation of the Posthumous2013 National Award for Plastic Arts, which took place at the Museum of Modern Art (MAM).