“Panamanian Art: Yesterday and Today” an exhibition that is a tribute to the Country Guest of Honor of the FILRD 2014

“Panamanian Art: Yesterday and Today” an exhibition that is a tribute to the Country Guest of Honor of the FILRD 2014
Santo Domingo, 05/01/2014

The Ministry of Culture, the National Institute of Culture of Panama, the Embassy of Panama to the Dominican Republic, the Directorate General of the Book Fair, and the Museum of Modern Art (MAM), opened the collective exhibition “Panamanian Art: Yesterday and Today“, an exhibition of modern and contemporary art from the Country Guest of Honor of the XVII International Book Fair Santo Domingo 2014.

The ceremony took place on the first floor of the MAM. The following persons attended the event: Alberto Magno Castillero, Ambassador of Panama to the Dominican Republic; Carlos Santos, Deputy Minister for Institutional Development, Ministry of Culture; Valentin Amaro, Director General of the Book Fair and Reading; Raúl Castro, Deputy Director of the National Institute of Culture of Panama; Laura Gil, Head of Research at the Museum of Modern Art, and other distinguished personalities.

“Panamanian Art: Yesterday and Today” comprises a series of works, including paintings, prints and drawings, from the collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the creation of artists: Guillermo Trujillo, Rodney Selenka, Teresa Icaza, Roosvelt Díaz, Raúl Vásquez Saez, Alicia Viteri, Julio Zachrisson, Luis Aguilar Ponce, Antonio Alvarado, Coquí Calderón, Manuel Chong Neto, Juan Dal Vera, Eduardo Pérez, Alfredo Sinclair, Tabo Toral and Ana Elena Garuz. In addition, this exhibition features works by contemporary artists Elpidio Mendoza, Ahamed Hassan, Kansuet, Michael Lombardo, Darién Montañez and Pilar Moreno.

Talking about Panamanian art, Gil explained that the art of the country of the Isthmus and the Canal, which sits between the Caribbean and the Pacific, between North and South America, who bears witness to the character of a place of transit and confluence, because of the richness and variety of its sources. Its pre-Columbian roots more than eleven thousand years old, Spanish colonial presence, and African and North American contributions, give character to an artistic and colorful production, rich in symbolism, and at the same time reticent and lush, and also both modern and ancient.
He added: “Modern painting, which begins with Robert Lewis, drawings with classical and indigenous roots, the imprint of Cubism and abstraction, a certain taste for compact and solid forms and the deep and rich color and the architecture of the Canal, make the Panamanian visual universe one of the richest, polymorphic and evocative of this continent.“

The exhibition will be open to the public between the hours of 9:00 am to 10:00 pm, for the duration of the International Book Fair, at the Museum of Modern Art of the Dominican Republic, which is located on Ave. Pedro Henríquez Ureña, Plaza de la Cultura Juan Pablo Duarte.