Luis Desangles: First Master Painter of the Dominican Republic

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Luis Desangles (February 8, 1861-1940), the Son of French parents, from an early age he expressed a love and interest in art. Desangles comes under the tutelage of Leon Cordero in the year 1870, and continues his lessons until Cordero's death in 1874. He then travels to Italy to continue his artistic studies, developing in the fields of drawing, sculpture and painting.

In 1883 he opens his workshop in Santo Domingo, Casa-Taller, where he instructs many of the great names that go on to define the early era of art in the country.

Some of the most recognizable names that studied art under Luis Desangles include; Abelardo Rodríguez Urdaneta, Arturo Grullón, Leopoldo Navarro, Adolfo García Obregón, Manuel María Sanabia, Arquímedes de la Concha, Carlos Ramírez Guerra, Manuel Buñols Medina and Francisco González Lamarche.

Luis Desangles Sibilly, born in Santo Domingo in 1861, died in Santiago de Cuba in 1940, is considered by many art critics and historians, as one of the most important figures related to the flourishing and definitions of modern and contemporary art in the Dominican Republic.

"Portrait of a black man"
Oil on canvas, 20 by 24 inches, completed in 1915

Reyes Ocre, Artist from Maria Trinidad Sanchez

Junior Reyes Ocre, born on December, 1976, in the Maria Trinidad Sanchez province of the Dominican Republic.

His inclination for painting began at a young age—winning his first drawing contest when he was just nine years old. In 1992, he attends the art workshop of Esau (David) Gil, followed by the School of Fines Arts of Santiago in 1993.

His first solo exhibition titled “Ocre, solo Ocre” was held in his hometown of Nagua, in 1996. Since then, Reyes Ocre has exhibited his work internationally; including Spain, Italy, Panama, Colombia and the United States.

He is a surrealist of vibrant colors, where the range is austere but intense.
– Joan Lluís Montané (2008)

Reyes Ocre's style has varied through out the years; including surrealism, expressionism and abstract.

"The Blue Scream" completed in 2017

Melvis Matos, Expressionist Artist from Bahoruco

Melvis Matos was born in December, 1970, in Villa Jaragua, a city off the northeast section of Lake Enriquillo, in the Bahoruco province of the Dominican Republic. The town was began its history as Barbacoa, but was renamed Villa Trujillo Valdéz after the Dictator's father. n 1961, its name was changed to Villa Jaragua.

A graduate of the National School of Fine Arts; Matos' inspirations include artists such as Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró and Willem de Kooning.

Throughout his career, Melvis Matos has participated in several solo and collective exhibitions at the national and international levels.

His work has been recognized in several art contest in the Dominican Republic, including; First Prize and two honorable mentions of the National Contest of Young Artist, Casa de Teatro, in 1999, and the Critics Award for the Best First Individual Exhibition granted by the Dominican Association of Art Critics, in 2001.

Paintings by Melvis Matos

"Eclipse"

Julio Susana, Paintings of Love and Daily Life

Art is imagination that gives life to the heart, where imagination flourishes as a work of art.
– Julio Susana

Julia Susana was born in the city of La Vega, Dominican Republic, in July, 1937. A painter and sculptor, Susana studied art at the National School of Fine Arts in Santo Domingo, graduating in 1963. His achievements as a student in ENAV earned him a scholarship to the Institute of Hispanic Culture of Madrid, in Spain.

His teachers included some of the greatest names in Dominican art: Jose Vela Zanetti, Marianela Jiménez, Gilberto Hernández Ortega, Jaime Colson, Antonio Prats Ventós, Gaspar Mario Cruz, Paúl Guidicelli, Celeste Woss and Gil, and Clara Ledesma.

His unique style of of vibrantly colored large figures in familiar themes is immediately recognizable in art circles.

Metaphors are the drama of his works. Between them and the viewer, a communion regardless of their motives, given his human essence and the new consciousness that arises from the point of view of modernity and intellectual culture.
– Candido Geron

"Solar Energy"

Danilo de los Santos (1943 - 2018)

Danilo de Los Santos (1943-2018), artistically known as Dánicel, was born in the city of Puerto Plata. An artist, art critic and art historian, his contributions to the world of art in the Dominican Republic can never be expressed in words.

De los Santos' early artistic memories are the cardboard dolls that he created for his sister—copied from fashion magazines. His skill with the human form came to the attention of artist Mario Grullon (Santiago, 1918-1994), who encouraged the young De los Santos to pursue his artistic talent, gifting him his first sketch book.

Watson Pablov, artist from María Trinidad Sánchez

Watson Pablov Ventura Garcia, was born 1976 in the province María Trinidad Sánchez, in the Dominican Republic.

Pablov studied graphic design and worked for several newspapers in Santo Domingo before moving to the United States in 2009. During this time he developed his style and technique on the canvas. Social themes and identity tend to be a focal point in Pablov's paintings—with epigrams and bold lines reminiscent of Basquiat and the many artists that included messages in their work, past and present.

Pablov's work is the result of an analysis of reality, in which he interprets and decodes what he sees applying "the principle of unusual." In his work we notice various techniques and influences that the artist consciously applied, emphasizing freedom of execution, evolution, change and constant variation.

Aniova Prandy, Multidisciplinary Artist from Santo Domingo

My work focuses on the physical materialization of emptiness, on the visibility of the shadows.

Aniova Prandy was born (1985) in the city of Santo Domingo, where her earliest artistic inspirations were drawn by her father. This early exposure lead Aniova to pursue an academic route that started with Drama at the National School of Dramatic Art in Santo Domingo, the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo, where she studied Martketing, the University of Salamanca in Spain, where she studied Art History, and the Rey Juan Carlos University in Madrid, where she earned a Master in Performing Arts.

The works are stages in which to establish relationships between forms and silence, in a game of very precise contrasts that seek to capture the gaze inescapably, and create an intimate experience between the work and the viewer. They are a reflective exercise on the invisible and the mutability of time...

I love the drawing, the lines, the composition. I am very attracted to Renaissance portraits, classical sculpture, and, of course, the de-narrativization of the avant-garde of the early twentieth century...