WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — Artists from Washington Heights and as far away as Miami and the Dominican Republic will showcase their work at a fair next week that marks the first exclusively held for Dominicans in Northern Manhattan.
The three-day fair, hosted and named after the publication ARTFORO, will kick off on Thursday, April 7, at the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Center on 3940 Broadway.
“The process started about eight months ago with this idea,” said Oscar Abreu, an artist and event coordinator. “We knew an event like this was necessary.”
Abreu said artists from all the world, including from France and Mexico, wanted to participate but that ARTFORO's publisher wanted to focus solely on artists from the Dominican Republic or of Dominican descent. The next exhibition, he noted, would be for international artists.
“We want to demonstrate to the community that Dominican art hasn’t been left behind,” Abreu said. "We wanted to show that this is a community that wants to grow in the arts."
Artists featured in the fair include several traveling from the Dominican Republic, including Aram Musset, Willy Perez, Joaquin Rosario and Pedro Gallardo, Mariano Sanchez, and Pablo Palasso. U.S.-based artists featuring work at the show include Van Robert from Miami and Abreu himself, who lives in Washington Heights.
Collectively, their work has appeared in exhibitions in France, Mexico and Spain.
"Something extraordinary happens when we’re before great art, and we want to bring that here," Abreu said. "We want to trust in the power that the arts has to transcend and go beyond our understanding."
Tickets for the three-day art fair cost $10. For more information, visit the event's website or call 917- 325-2564.
