The outstanding plastic artist Orlando menicucci He was born on January 30, 1949, in Santiago de los Caballeros. The art came with him and accompanies him to this day.
He experienced it in his family. His father had a photography laboratory in the house and his mother is described by the artist as a “carnival” woman, who came to do performance and he belonged to the National Civic Union movement.
Closing last year received the National Visual Arts Award 2021 granted by the Ministry of Culture for his great career and invaluable contributions to the development of the art Dominican, an award that has been given since 1993 and currently includes an endowment of RD $ 1,000,000 pesos. This moment that he lives in his more than 50 years of career will be celebrated with the retrospective exhibition “The states of light” which will open this January 12 at the National Gallery of Fine Arts with more than 70 works of his creation.
Sacrifice for him art
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The expression “For the love of art”It is perfect for Menicucci because passion is stronger. When reporters from Free Journal They arrived at his artists’ residence located on Las Mercedes street, in the Colonial City, he was resting his legs (in one he has a small prosthesis) to “climb” on the scaffolding again and continue painting the piece that will be exhibited in 11 feet tall.
To do what he called the “Antillean Codex” there was an inspiration from the first settlers, the Tainos, and he recreated that meeting of civilizations. It encompasses a “journey from east to west, vertical signs, the territory conquered by Christopher Columbus, blackness,” he indicates with impetus in the interview.
The curatorial project is by Luis Graham and Amable López Meléndez. “They put the doll together,” he says.
Some books on the table, such as the ethnic classic “Razas del mundo, peoples y cultures”, by the Oceano publishing house, as well as Taíno pieces and sugar mills, or stripes on the wall occupied the room. All this must be necessary for the final result and can be seen in the Gallery of Fine Arts.
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A biennialist
Gentle and smiling, the teacher Orlando menicucci Fiordano defined himself as a biennialist from that group and appreciated the holding of the Visual Arts Biennial, which had not been held for five years, with the artist Aniova Prandy winning.
On what the biennial means for the winners, he reflects: “Sure, it helps. Biennial awards are always a current symbol of an approach. When an award is chosen something motivates to say that this work is key in a current moment” .
“There will always be works better finished than others. There have always been surprises in all biennials, but the important thing (of their celebration) is the meeting of the art national, without theme, without induction. The artist assembles what he produces, not by theme. This character cannot be eliminated in the National Biennial of Visual Arts “, he adds.
He also appreciates that the León Center holds a competition for art first class and that he has his own criteria, which he respects.
Acknowledgments
In his youth, in 1970, Orlando was the 2nd Prize for Painting of the IV International Biennial of Ibiza; In 1974 he obtained the 2nd place in the painting category at the XIII National Biennial and in 1978 he received international recognition at the Museum of Art Contemporary of Bogotá, among others.
Maestro Menicucci recommends that the Biennial have a permanently open office, like that of the Book Fair, so that there is a follow-up. He has contributed in the language of the plastic, in the performance platform, the installations and in the conservation and dissemination of the arts and he felt honored to receive the highest distinction of the visual arts that the Dominican State grants.
“I think they saw in me some aspects to take into account. It surprises me, it fills me with pride ”, he expresses. And he reflects that this recognition was given at a time of change to which the art He was not indifferent, referring to the pandemic, that is why he said that “the plastic artists we cannot stop creating ”.
The economic endowment already has an end. “This award is to make the houses of art, so that the movements continue to grow ”, he concludes.
Plastic artist
More of the conversation
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The artist lives most of the time in Puerto Plata and is working to open the center of art Contemporary Casa Colson.
“Confinement made people stay more in their homes, many people transformed their homes and we plastic artists we can’t stop creating, so we put all our efforts to keep doing art“, he comments on the appreciation of the art currently, which is determined by historical and political processes, while valuing real estate movements. “I think people have developed an appreciation for the art and by the silence of the spaces of the home ”, he considers.
Cheerful and dancer
More Dominican than the mangú. “I’ll dance everything for you: I’m from Santiago, I’m on the edge, merengue, bachata, mangulina, guaguancó, cha-cha … I spent two years recovering the movements of my leg to continue dancing. Every day I dance ”.
There he took advantage and said: “The Dominican is not a race, it is a story.” And with a humorous tone he pointed out, judging by his physique and his Italian surname inherited from his grandfather, “there are people who tell me – you are not from here – and I tell them – and neither are you.”
Source-www.diariolibre.com