Maestro Ramón Oviedo Receives the 2013 Visual Arts Award

Maestro Ramón Oviedo Receives the 2013 Visual Arts Award
Santo Domingo, July 16th, 2014

The Ministry of Culture (MINC) awarded painter Ramón Oviedo the National Award of Visual Arts corresponding to the year 2013, for the excellence of his contributions in revitalizing the development of national art and for his professional career.

Minister Rodríguez explained that “this award has been unanimously granted by the jury in recognition to Oviedo’s professional career. The truth is that it has made me very happy because it is the most important recognition that the State awards, …

The event was lead by the Minister of Culture, José Antonio Rodríguez, who presented the award and a cash prize of 500 thousand pesos. The ceremony took place in Oviedo’s home due to his health conditions.

Minister Rodríguez explained that “this award has been unanimously granted by the jury in recognition to Oviedo’s professional career. The truth is that it has made me very happy because it is the most important recognition that the State awards, to Oviedo on this occasion, one of the most important painters of contemporary visual arts, and who has made innumerable contributions to the Dominican national art.”

Upon receiving the 2013 National Award of Visual Arts, Ramón Oviedo thanked the Minister of Culture and the jury for the award saying that he received it for his tenacious work, since, of his 90 years of life, he had spent his past 85 working in different areas until he decided one day to dedicate himself to what he really loved, visual arts.

Deputy Ministers Carlos Santos (Institutional Development) and Tommy García (Creativity and Popular Participation) attended the event. Additionally, Maestro Oviedo’s children Omar, Raúl, Ramón and Aracelis, accompanied by his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, were also present during the ceremony.

This is the highest acknowledgement that the Dominican State grants in the area of visual arts, and it was given to Oviedo for this constant commitment to visual creation and for creating national masterpieces.

Oviedo’s painting production is composed of a repertoire of images that trace the arduous, extensive, and fruitful persistence of an artistic personality with an exquisite poetic sensibility.

The Selecting Committee emphasized that Oviedo’s entire work is characterized by an intense reflection about the human condition, the existential contradictions, and the complex relationships between artistic practice, socio-cultural space, and nature.

In addition to the Minister, the jury was also formed by María Elena Ditrén, Director of the Museum of Modern Art; Marianne de Tolentino, Director of the Gallery of Fine Arts; Myrna Guerrero, Director of the Bellapart Museum; and Carlos Acero, President of the Dominican Art Critic Association (ADCA).

Clinton Samuel López Torres, resident of the Dominican School of Fine Arts; Mildred Canahuate, President of the Art Galleries Association of the Dominican Republic; and, Danilo de los Santos, Independent Cultural Administrator, were also part of the jury.

Similarly, the Posthumous National Award of Visual Arts will be given to Guillo Pérez, one of the greatest examples of Earth’s color and sensation in Dominican modern painting, for his creations of aesthetic and visual symbols that transcend the essential identity values of being Dominican.

Furthermore, Soucy Pellerano was also recognized for the vitality and diversity of her experimental pieces ranging from paintings, sculptures and performance, as well as for being a pioneer of kinetic art and teacher to several generations in the Dominican Republic.

The National Award of Visual Arts of the Dominican Republic is the highest award that the State grants to visual artists for their trajectory and contributions to the development of national art. This important award was established by Decree 278-93 on October 12, 1993, and was later repealed by Decree 597-10 on October 23, 2010.

Professor Ramón Oviedo receiving the 2013 National Award of Visual Arts

The Minister of Culture, José Antonio Rodríguez, presenting the 2013 National Award of Visual Arts to Maestro Ramón Oviedo

The Minister of Culture, José Antonio Rodríguez next to Maesro Ramón Oviedo. They are accompanied by the Ministry of Culture and members of the Selecting Committee