Dister, the Uptown Street Artist

Alberto "Dister" Rondon, is a dancer, choreographer, actor, director and visual artist, best known for his "I Love My Hood" community art project, launched in 2004 in Washington Heights, and which has also reached cities in France, Uruguay and his native Dominican Republic.

“Nobody asked my permission to put up a Duane Reade down my block or a blinking sign outside my window, so I’m going to paint on a blank wall,”

Dister was born in 1979 to Dominican parents, and is a graduate of the SUNY Oneonta liberal arts college.

You can follow Dister's work at his website disternyc.com, and on Instagram.

La Lucha, Quisqueya and Haiti: One Island

The exhibition, La Lucha: Quisqueya & Haiti, One Island, is a collective visual art exhibition Organized and curated by Yelaine Rodriguez, that aims to bring together artists from both the Dominican Republic and Haiti, in order to educate its viewers on the history and present day state of both countries. Presented in collaboration with Haiti Cultural Exchange, the exhibit will open February 6, 2015 and feature performances by Haitian and Dominican musicians and will run through February 27, 2015.

Yelaine Rodriguez, a 24-year-old Dominican-American fashion designer, is a graduate of Parsons School of Design, came up with the idea for “La Lucha” (the struggle or the fight), after attending the Altos De Chavon art School in Santo Domingo, DR.

“They really educated me, about how we celebrate our independence from Haiti, but not from our colonizers. It showed me how we try to separate ourselves so much.”

Opening Reception
DATE / TIME: Friday, February 6, 2015 | 6-9pm.
LOCATION: Rio Penthouse Gallery I | 10 Fort Washington Ave | New York, NY 10032
Between West 159th and West 160th St Google Map
Take the 1 train to 157th St, or take the C to 163rd Amsterdam
ADMISSION: Free

Panel Discussion (Speakers TBA)
DATE / TIME: Saturday, February 21, 2015 | 3-6pm.
LOCATION: TBA
ADMISSION: Free

Closing Reception
DATE / TIME: Friday, February 27, 2015 | 6-9pm.
LOCATION: Rio Penthouse Gallery I | 10 Fort Washington Ave | New York, NY 10032
Between West 159th and West 160th St Google Map
Take the 1 train to 157th St, or take the C to 163rd Amsterdam
ADMISSION: Free

Apeco: Casa de la familia Taveras, 1962

Title:	Casa de la familia Taveras
Author:	Apeco
Year:	1962
Medium:	Photograph
Size:	NA
Collection:	Apeco

Apeco: Yoryi Morel, 1975

Title:	El artista Jorge Octavio Morel (Yoryi)
Author:	Apeco
Year:	1975
Medium:	Photography
Size:	NA
Collection:	Apeco

Natalio Puras Penzo (Apeco)

Jesús Natalio Puras Penzo, best known by his pseudonym Apeco, was born in Santiago, Dominican Republic, in 1934, and died on January 16, 2010.

Apeco studied civil engineering at the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo. At the end of the 1950s, he became known for his photographs, in which he applied nontraditional methods in black and white and also for his stints as an actor.

In 1961, he opened the photo studio Foto APECO in Santiago. In 1962, he presented his first solo exhibition at the opening of the campus of the Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra (UCMM) of Santiago, and was director of the Photography Department Dominican Broadcasting for 10 years (1968-1978).

He collaborated with the photography froups Jueves 68 and FotoGrupo, with whom Apeco exhibited at numerous times. In 1976 he presented his second solo exhibition at the Dominican-American Institute, and in 1979 he was part of the group exhibition held at the inauguration of the Cultural Center of Santiago.

Today, Apeco is remembered as one of the greatest and most important Dominican photographers.

Elsa Núñez awarded the 2014 National Arts Award

Elsa Núñez has been awarded the 2014 National Arts Award of the Dominican Republic. The artist was selected by a committee chaired by the Minister of Culture, José Antonio Rodríguez.

The award, which is awarded annually, includes a cash prize of RD$650,000.

The National Arts Award was established in 1993, and was granted in 1993 to the painter Darío Suro, and in 1995 to the painter and sculptor Antonio Prats Ventos, both now deceased.

No other awards were granted until 2010, when the award was given to Fernando Peña Defilló, and postmortem by presidential decree to Gaspar Mario Cruz, Luis Martínez Richiez, Clara Ledesma and Silvano Lora.

In 2010, President Leonel Fernández, reestablished the award under Decree No. 597-10, which dictates that it is necessary to promote the development of the arts in the Dominican Republic by recognizing its most prominent representatives so that current and future generations value the contributions of these to the Dominican cultural life.

Natalia Pagés Solís: Untitled

Title:	Untitled
Author:	Natalia Pagés Solís
Year:	2012
Medium:	Oil / Canvas
Size:	86.36 x 86.36 cm
Collection:	Private

Aquiles Azar, artist from Dominican Republic, dies at age 82

Renowned Dominican artist Aquiles Azar, passed away on Tuesday, January 27, 2015, at the age of 82.

• Arrecifes de Corales - Aquiles Azar

Aquiles Azar García was born in Santo Domingo, in 1932.

He studied at the Academy of Painting of George Hausforf, and then at the National School of Fine Arts in Santo Domingo.

His works can be found in museums, as well as corporate and private collections around the world. He has held solo exhibitions in Japan, London, Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, Balearic Islands, Greece, Brussels, Ecuador, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic and other countries.

Azar has been awarded several times by the E. León Jimenes group, and national Biennials.

Junot Díaz gets top spot on BBC's 12 greatest novels of the 21st Century

A BBC Culture poll of several dozen critics has picked The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Dominican author Junot Díaz, as the greatest novel of the 21st century (of novels written since 2000).

The book, which was published in 2007, won the John Sargent, Sr. First Novel Prize, the Dayton Peace Prize in Fiction, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2008.

Jaime Colson: Baquiní y la ciguapa del Camú

Title:	Baquiní y la ciguapa del Camú
Author:	Jaime Colson
Year:	1949
Medium:	Gouache / paper
Size:	50 x 32.5 cm
Collection:	Museo Bellapart

Jaime Colson: Self-portrait

Title:	Autorretrato (self-portrait)
Author:	Jaime Colson
Year:	1925
Medium:	Oil / Wood
Size:	48.5 x 40.5 cm.
Collection:	Museo Bellapart

Jaime Colson: Bodegón

Title:	Bodegón
Author:	Jaime Colson
Year:	1927
Medium:	oil on canvas
Size:	unknown
Collection:	Museo de Arte Moderno, Santo Domingo

Arco del Triunfo, Barahona, 1938

Title:	Arco de Triunfo
Author:	Unknown
Year:	1938
Medium:	Photography
Size:	Unknown
Collection:	National Archives of the Dominican Republic

About the "Arco del Triunfo"

The "Arco del Triunfo" (Arch of Triumph) was contsructed by Barahoneros in appreciation of then President of the Republic (Trujillo), for the construction of the 65 kilometer long Enriquillo road linking Barahona with Azua, at a cost of RD$165,000. The monument was formally inaugurated on Sunday August 7, 1938.

Maryelin Sagafi

Maryelin R. Sagafi was born in Dominican Republic. She is a Civil Engineer and Yoga instructor.

A graduate of the Guillo Perez Art School, she completed all the courses and participated on their annual collective Exhibition in 2003. Shortly after she attended the National School of Fine Arts in Santo Domingo, where she earned a degree in fine arts in 2005.

Maryelin has traveled extensively to India, Spain, France, Italy, Turkey and Argentina in pursuit of her art.

My art is a reflection of my inner self, my feelings and desires. It represents the interaction between the individual and the world, the perfection of the body and its capabilities and the dynamic of the universal creation expressed in colors. I am in my journey of self-discovery trough art

Firelei Báez: Index to a Memory Table

Title:	Index to a Memory Table (for those wildin' out in the land of Juan Rodriguez)
Author:	Firelei Báez
Year:	2013
Medium:	Acrylic and gouache on paper
Size:	52 x 191 In
Collection:	Private

Firelei Báez

Firelei Báez lleva las historias de la diáspora a un reino imaginativo, reelaborando referencias visuales extraídas del pasado para explorar nuevas posibilidades para el futuro. Con el objetivo de recuperar el poder, Báez superpone figuraciones, imágenes simbólicas y gestos abstractos en reproducciones a gran escala de mapas y documentos encontrados.

Firelei Báez nació en 1981 en Santiago de los Caballeros, República Dominicana recibió un M.F.A. de Hunter College, un B.F.A. de la Escuela de Arte de Cooper Union, y estudió en la Escuela de Pintura y Escultura de Skowhegan.

Maryelin Sagafi: Ybor Flamenco Dancer

Title:	Ybor Flamenco Dancer
Author:	Maryelin Sagafi
Year:	Unknown
Medium:	Oil / Canvas
Size:	48 x 24 in
Collection:	Private

Palacio Consistorial in Santiago, Dominican Republic, 1898

Title:	Palacio Consistorial, Santiago de los Caballeros
Author:	Unknown
Year:	1898
Medium:	Photography
Size:	Unknown

A photograph of the Palacio Consistorial in Santiago, Dominican Republic, taken in 1898. The photo appeared in the July 1, 1889 issue of El Cojo Illustrado, a biweekly magazine published in Caracas, Venezuela, between 1892 and 1915.

The Palacio Consistorial (Town Hall), now a public museum, is one of the many historical landmarks in Santiago, built between 1895 and 1896. The two level structure was designed by a Belgian architect named Luís Bogaert.

Felix Esteban: Ciguapa

Title:	Ciguapa
Author:	Felix Esteban Rosario Santos
Year:	Unknown
Medium:	Charcoal and pastel on paper
Size:	10 1/2 x 13 1/4 in
Collection:	Private

León Bosch: La niña de los limoncillos

Title:	La niña de los limoncillos
Author:	León Bosch
Year:	1969
Medium:	Oil / Canvas
Size:	97 x 69 cm
Collection:	Colección Eduardo León Jimenes de Artes Visuales

León Bosch García (1936-2025)

The painter León Bosch García (1936-2025) was born in Santo Domingo in 1936 and passed away on February 3, 2025, in Washington, D.C.

Son of former Dominican president Juan Bosch (1963), he was a landscape artist, portraitist, and still-life painter, with the latter being the style he developed the most and for which he received the most awards and honorable mentions throughout his artistic career, according to the Dominican Art Gallery.

He pursued his studies abroad, mainly in Madrid, Spain, where for three years he enrolled as a copyist at the Prado Museum to study Velázquez and other Baroque masters.

He visited the most important museums in Europe (Italy, Austria, Germany, France, the Netherlands, and England), where he studied the techniques of renowned classical painters.

His works are in the hands of private collectors worldwide and in the Dominican Republic.

Bosch García participated in both solo and group exhibitions in the Dominican Republic and abroad and joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1998.