Dionisio Perkins
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dionisio Perkins | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1929 Havana, Cuba |
| Died | 2016 (aged 86–87) Coral Gables, Florida, U.S. |
| Other names | Dennis Perkins, Denis Perkins |
| Education | Self-taught |
| Occupations | Artist, painter |
| Years active | 1950s–2016 |
| Known for | Cuban exile and diaspora art, La Vieja Guardia movement |
Dionisio Perkins (1929 – 2016),[1] better known as Dennis (sometimes spelled "Denis")[2] Perkins, was a Cuban artist recognized as a key member of the early Cuban exile art community in South Florida.
Early years
Dionisio Perkins Milian[3] was born in Havana, Cuba in 1929 to an English father and Cuban mother.[4] Due to his mixed cultural background, Perkins was fluently bilingual in English and Spanish throughout his life. While mostly self-taught in the arts, he did receive brief formal training from Cuban artist Domingo Ramos (1894–1956), who is mostly known for his landscapes.[2]
Perkins career began in earnest in Havana during the late 1950s. In 1957 Perkins participated in group shows at El Vedado’s Lyceum.[4] In 1959 he was part of several exhibitions in Cuban art venues, including the exhibition in honor of Vanguardia leader Victor Manuel, held in Havana’s Museo Nacional.[4] Later that year Perkins also took part in their Arte y Artesanía exhibition and also exhibited again at the Lyceum.[4][2] The following year would see him relocate to the United States.
Move to Miami
Following the turmoil of the Cuban Revolution and Fidel Castro’s rise to power, the Castro regime would crack down on artists and academics to bring them in-line with the Revolution’s aims and messaging.[2] Perkins emigrated to the Miami area in 1960 and became part of the displaced Cuban diaspora.[2] As a fluent bilingual, Perkins had a unique cultural advantage among many of the diaspora and used it to assist his friends and fellow artists. He resided in Coral Gables, Florida and would remain there the rest of his life. Perkins continued his painting career as a member of the Cuban exile art community that had become especially prominent in South Florida culture and would grow to dominate its art scene thereafter.[2] Perkins, while reserved, would gradually emerge to become one of its more well-respected artists, participating regularly in exhibitions and winning multiple awards throughout his career,[4] and continued painting until is death.
Network in the arts
Throughout his career Perkins was active in several social circles affiliated with Latin art in the greater Miami area. He is associated with his close friends and fellow artists Lourdes Gomez-Franca and Miguel ("Mickey") Jorge. The three would frequent art and social gatherings from the 1960s until each of their respective deaths and often exhibited together, as well as supported and influenced each other's careers.[2][5][6][7][8][9] The trio are recognized as an important early group of Cuban artists in Miami that, along with the larger and more formal Grupo GALA, helped establish the modern Miami art market.[2]
As with Lourdes and Jorge, Perkins was a close associate of Coral Gables-based fine art dealer and arts patron Marta Permuy.[6] Permuy would represent Perkins often throughout his career and he was a regular guest at the Permuy House, along with Gomez Franca.[6] He was also regularly featured in the Permuy Gallery, one of the first Cuban art galleries in South Florida, through the 1970s and a frequented her influential Friday salon discussions, which continued to be held at the Permuy House for decades following the gallery period.[6] These salon gatherings were a significant cultural nexus for Miami Latin art and a way Perkins would meet and connect with collectors and other leading South Florida art figures.[2][6] Other significant contacts for Perkins in the South Florida art community were fellow artist and gallerist Gloria Allison (1924–2013), younger artist Pablo Cano, and María Calas, who ran a successful frame shop popular with many Cuban artists and collectors who would network through her.[2]