As part of its support for art and culture, the Popular Association of Savings and Loans (APAP) inaugurated the cultural space “Paseo de las Artes”, where works by prominent Dominican artists Amaya Salazar, Said Musa and Fermín Ceballos will remain.
The president of the Board of Directors of APAP, Lawrence Hazoury, stressed that the APAP Arts Walk is a sign of the support of this financial institution for the artists and culture of the country.
“Culture is a noble manifestation of our essence as human beings and a powerful tool for development and social transformation,” he stressed.
The executive also thanked the artists and curators for assuming and making the cultural project tangible, “for giving shape, color and life to the history of leadership of the financial institution, and for expressing through art the relationship of trust with its partners savers and clients for more than six decades”.
“Starting a Future”, by Amaya Salazar; “Set of Ceramic Murals”, by Said Musa and the “Gallery of Portraits of the founders of APAP”, by Fermín Ceballos, are the works that make up the APAP Arts Walk.
The cultural space will be set up in the main complex of the financial institution, on Avenida 27 de Febrero at the corner of Máximo Gómez, so that both clients and the general public can appreciate the works of art.
Artist profiles and description of their works
Fermin Ceballos
The work of Fermín Ceballos for APAP “Galería de Fundadores” is characterized by capturing the personality, essence and character of each of the founders of APAP, whom he painted.
Fermín Ceballos was born in San Cristóbal in 1978. He graduated from the Santo Domingo National School of Fine Arts in 1998. He has developed his work in various styles, among which are mainly painting and performance.
His most recent individual exhibition, entitled “Despojos” was presented at the Fernando Peña Defilló Museum in the city of Santo Domingo, in 2018.
In 2015 he won the Davidoff Art Initiative artist residency for Künstlerhaus Bethaniem, Berlin, Germany. In 2014 she obtained the prize of the XXV Eduardo León Jimenes Art Contest for her work “Action for Buonarroti”. In 2013 he participated as a Dominican representative in the 11th World Cultural Art Symposium at the Mosan Art Museum, Boryeong, Republic of Korea.
He has presented individual exhibitions in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and the United States, and has participated in various group exhibitions nationally and internationally.
Amaya Salazar
“Initiando un Futuro” is a large volume monumental sculpture made by Amaya Salazar for APAP and, as its title says, represents the beginning of the future.
The sculpture tells the story of a couple who sits on a building, symbolizing the beginning and from those foundations they begin the construction of their family, their home, representing the hopes of the Dominican family.
This piece represents the harmony that characterizes the unique style of Amaya’s work and that is interpreted between the organic, large-volume figures, and the geometric.
It is a sculpture that invites people to be and sit with it in this space where nature, art and architecture come together to offer hope to those who visit it.
Amaya Salazar is a renowned Dominican painter, sculptor, draftsman and muralist. She was the daughter of Basque and Mexican emigrants, she was born in Santo Domingo and she had the opportunity to travel from a very young age to see the countries where her family came from. It was in this way that she was able to learn about different cultures, observe exotic landscapes with their colors and lights, as well as see and understand different societies, something that is constantly seen in her work.
Amaya’s work has a unique style where she creates harmony between the geometric and the organic, where colors merge and become other tones and light shines even behind shadows and dark colors. Likewise, she has managed to master oil and drawing techniques and she can manipulate bronze, resin, iron and different materials to create sculptures and reliefs. Her vision and her theme is represented by postmodernism.
He has exhibited his works in different countries such as the United States, Spain, Italy, Israel, Canada, Panama, Puerto Rico, among others. His works can be found in prestigious national and international collections.
said muse
The “ceramic set” made by Said Musa for the APAP Arts Walk is made of fire-glazed clay on concrete walls and represents the different families and characters of Dominican society who through their work and effort seek a better future. This work is also appreciated as a sculpture, since it has an abstract part, which represents future possibilities.
Painter, draughtsman, sculptor and ceramicist with a strong Picasso inspiration and fiery colorism, he entered the School of Fine Arts in 1967 and the workshop of master Jaime Colson in 1972. He is internationally recognized for his ceramic murals in private residences and institutions.
His murals are located on the boulevard of 27 de Febrero avenue and in the John F. Kennedy station of the Santo Domingo subway.
He has an intense artistic production and actively participates in national and international exhibitions and shows.
He obtained the first prize for sculpture at the XVIII National Biennial of Visual Arts of the Museum of Modern Art; the first prize for sculpture at the XIV Eduardo León Jimenes Art Contest and the first prize for sculpture at the XIX National Biennial of Visual Arts of the Museum of Modern Art.