Omar Paíno Perdomo, Presents His II Solo Exhibition “Designs of Nature”

Omar Paíno Perdomo, Presents His II Solo Exhibition “Designs of Nature”
Santo Domingo, October 5 2015

Omar Paíno Perdomo (Santo Domingo, 1972) is a biologist, mycologist, environmentalist, researcher and restorer of old antique pieces of furniture, and a pioneer in the use of the Scanning Electron Microscope lens technique in photography. His II Solo Exhibition is titled “Designs of Nature” and it is sponsored by the international wood processing firm L. Debus & Sohn, located in Münzenberg, Germany.

Jeannette Miller, art and literary critic, renowned author and cultural personality with an important career, will have the responsibility of analyzing the “Designs of Nature” collection.

Referring to the first Dominican mycologist who graduated with a Doctoral degree in Natural Sciences (with Honors) from the Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität in Germany, Miller has said that Omar Paíno Perdomo “offers us his second solo exhibition with photographs that reflect his evolution over thirteen years and which feature variables where nature is present not only in its smaller realities, but on a monumental scale, a term that would define what we face on a daily basis.

“It is said that the inhabitants of an island have, on one hand a sense of isolation, and on the other hand, a sense of openness. These features are present in Omar Paíno Perdomo’s photographs, because he selects what is meaningful in his environment and captures it with the eye of someone who has previously done the compositional work, as a result of the handling of abstract structures that he is capable of doing.

“His condition as pioneering an outlook on life in our country -through the microscope and at full scale- makes Perdomo a forerunner in the style he uses in his work.

“But his merits do not stop at his ability to capture the means he uses, the transcendental value of his photograph lies in the management of multiple types of composition that turn the details into wholes.”

The exhibition will open on Thursday, October 8, at 7:30 pm in the “Silvano Lora” Public Workshop Foundation, located at Arzobispo Meriño Street number 104, in the Colonial City.

In 2001 Perdomo was recognized as mycologist with the Scientific Achievement Award: 1000 World Scientific Leaders of Influence. ABI. He obtained a Master of Science degree from the University of Costa Rica with his thesis Polyporaceae in the Ébano Verde Scientific Reserve and Los Haitises National Park, which was the first thesis on micoflora (fungi) in the Dominican Republic. His published literature on mycology, includes: Perdomo, O., D. J. Lodge & T. J. Baroni. 2007. Hongos comestibles de la República Dominicana; Perdomo, O., D. Ortega & L. Rodríguez Guglielmoni. 2005. Los Hongos: el lenguaje de las formas y los colores; Perdomo, O. 2005. Diáspora: bibliografía micológica de la Española/Diaspora: mycological bibliography of La Española. (Bilingual).

Omar Paíno requested the Dominican State to issue a postal stamp on fungi; it was the first printing of stamps on fungi in the country and it was released on September 13, 2001, under the name “Fungi of the Dominican Republic,” at the Dominican Postal Institute. It consisted of an edible species, Morchella elata, two species of wood decomposers, Pycnoporus sanguineus and Coriolopsis polyzona, and Mycena epiterigya, a biolumninescent species.

Previously, in 2002, Perdomo introduced his I Solo Exhibition titled “Asombros Visuales,” which consisted of 25 sepia photographs taken with a scanning electron microscope. The exhibition took place in the “Wilfredo García” Gallery at Casa de Teatro.

In 2008 Perdomo was the first biologist that received the “Pedro Henríquez Ureña” National Scientific Essay National Prize awarded by the Ministry of Culture, Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), for his work Biodiversidad de la República Dominicana: Hongos (Biodiversity in the Dominican Republic: Fungi). The essay includes generalities on fungi, an introduction on the history of mycology in the Dominican Republic, an essay on the species that are present in the country and the issues with preserving the Dominican micoflora.

In 2006, Perdomo, in collaboration with Dr. D.W. Minter from the Botanical Garden of Kew (England), created the first and only webpage on the island’s fungi: “Hongos de la República Dominicana-Fungi of the Dominican Republic.”

Omar Paíno Perdomo has inventoried the Ébano Verde Scientific Reserves, Loma Quita Espuela, the Natural Monuments: The dunes of Las Calderas, Catalina Island and the National Parks: Armando Bermúdez, José del Carmen Ramírez, Nalga de Maco, Lago Enriquillo, Valle Nuevo, Sierra de Bahoruco, Sierra de Neiba, Del Este, Jaragua, Manglares del Bajo Yuna, Humedales del Ozama, and Los Haitises, in order to understand the biodiversity of species of pathogen, edible, poisonous, and saprophytes fungi. As a result of his research, he compiled all the information on mycology research conducted on the island of Santo Domingo.

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