Limber Vilorio Wins Casa de Velázquez Artist Grant and Will Exhibit in Paris

Dominican artist and architect Limber Vilorio has won the famous Casa de Velázquez award from Madrid and has been invited to show his work next year at “La Grande Halle” of Parc de la Villette, Paris’s largest city park.

Being awarded this grant is quite an achievement for Vilorio in that it is normally only given to artists from European Union countries and “only exceptionally to people of other nationalities,”

Being awarded this grant is quite an achievement for Vilorio in that it is normally only given to artists from European Union countries and “only exceptionally to people of other nationalities,” according to the document certifying the achievement of this Dominican architect.

To qualify for this honor, the creator of “Sexy Móvil” presented the project “City Skin” (“Piel Ciudad”) based on research about the skin of the city. The artist showed a work program that examined the production of bi-dimensional works, installations, video and diagrams of graphic material that show the creative process that went into the making of “City Skin.”

Between November 2007 and February 2008, Vilorio displayed his research about the traffic in Santo Domingo at the Museum of Modern Art. The show was called “Who Threw The SUV Into The Caribbean?”

Preparations for Paris, 2009

The Dominican artist was also invited by French curator Yolande Bacot to show his work at La Grande Halle of Parc de la Villette.

Limbert, who is currently in Madrid, said that Ms. Bacot had travelled to Santo Domingo to see his painting and audiovisual work up close. While in Santo Domingo, Bacot became familiar with such installations as “Who Threw The SUV Into The Caribbean?” She then proceeded to choose several pieces for the exhibition, including “Armor Plated”, “Sexy Muffler”, “Spiny Muffler”, “Tyrant Muffler”, “Mouth of the Tank Muffler” and “Permutations.”

Paris’s La Grande Halle will show his project from April until July of 2009.

“The Parc de la Villette is one of the urban projects that I scrutinized thoroughly while studying for my architecture degree. It served me well as a reference for a large part of my own designs. It was the main highlight in my learning process, especially the conceptual part. I consider it to be a contemporary urban park that responds to the complex needs of today’s society. Its creator, Bernard Tshumi, is one of the most influential architects of our time and one who has contributed the most to the new theories on urbanization. Exhibiting in this place represents, for me, a revelation where art and architecture meld together, a confirmation of purpose of my current work which is to make architecture through art,” said Vilorio.