Due to his great career and invaluable contributions to the development of Dominican art, the Ministry of Culture announced that the 2021 National Prize for Visual Arts will be awarded to the outstanding teacher Orlando Menicucci.
Menicucci is a recognized and outstanding visual artist, a native of Santiago de los Caballeros, to whom the 29th Visual Arts Biennial was dedicated. The laureate has an extensive work that covers the disciplines of painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, performance, installations and ceramics, among others.
Orlando has received significant accolades in the past. In 1970 it was the 2nd Prize for Painting of the IV International Biennial of Ibiza, in 1974 it obtained the 2nd place in the painting category at the XIII National Biennial and in 1978 it received international recognition at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Bogotá, among others. .
This award, which has been given since 1993, currently includes the endowment of RD $ 1,000,000.00 pesos.
The meeting in which the committee deliberated to choose the winner of this edition took place last Wednesday at the ministerial headquarters and was chaired by the Minister of Culture, Milagros Germán, accompanied by the Vice Minister of Cultural Heritage, Gamal Michelén, who participated without exercise the vote or propose an award.
The jury was made up of Federico Fondeur, director of the Museum of Modern Art; Abil Peralta, director of the Technical Office of Culture of the Chamber of Deputies; Marianne de Tolentino, director of the Fine Arts Gallery, as well as Patrick Landry, president of the Dominican Association of Art Critics.
In the same way, Fidel Munnigh, director of the UASD School of Art; Myrna Guerrero, director of the Bellapart Museum; Sarah Hermann, as representative of the León Jimenes Center, and Alexandra Ayala, in representation of the president of the Dominican College of Plastic Artists, José Sejo.
In the presence of the jury, Minister Milagros Germán congratulated Menicucci for having won the highest recognition granted by the Dominican State to the contributions of a visual arts artist.
In previous editions, this award was given to artists such as Polibio DÃaz, José Ramón Rotellini, Vicente Pimentel, Antonio Guadalupe, DarÃo Suro, Antonio Prats Ventós, Fernando Peña Defilló, Ada Balcácer, Domingo Liz, Elsa Núñez and Ramón Oviedo, among others.
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