Lyle O. Reitzel Art Gallery celebrates its 22 uninterrupted years of existence in the contemporary art universe, with an compelling collective exhibition entitled “22 on Tour” next Thursday, March 23 2017 from 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM in its main space in Santo Domingo, located in Torre Piantini, with the participation of special guests that include, for the first time, Spanish painter Santiago Idañez, Dominican video art artist Alina Landry and New York based Robert Dandarov, as well as Dominican photographer Eladio Fernandez, alongside his stellar artists José García Cordero, Raúl Recio, Gerard Ellis, Scherezade García, Firelei Baez, Inés Tolentino, Hulda Guzmán, Gustavo Peña, Tania Marmolejo from the Dominican Republic, Ignacio Iturria from Uruguay, Edouard Duval Carrié from Haiti, José Bedia and Luis Cruz Azaceta of Cuban origin, Ray Smith and Victor Rodriguez from Mexico, all of them form part of this dream team and have sailed next to the gallerist in a whirlwind of symbiotic growth that for more than two decades has created reference points at esthetic and conceptual levels in the collecting of various generations, building a market of formal art and leaving a cultural footprint in the collective memory.

In 1988, Lyle begins his steps as ‘Marchand D’Art’ from his mother Marcelle Perez Brown’s emblematic “Atelier Gazcue” as an operational base. In 1995, he launches himself as an independent gallerist, launching a new space in the capital city: “Lyle O. Reitzel Contemporary Art”. During the 2005-2010 period, he installs a new space in Wynwood Art District in Miami and on June 11th, 2016, he embarks on a great adventure, opening a new branch in the heart of Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York, with a historic show with an open house, under the title “Tales from the Caribbean Nights” by José García Cordero.

The curator and art critic Sara Hermman wrote in 2001: “When Lyle decided to embark on this magnificent project (read: in the both the Dominican Republic and Cuba, simultaneously, if you please) he could have never imagined that four years later he would be celebrating it with a certain degree of amnesia. An amnesia as selective as memory. It’s been four years since he opened an unheard of space; an unprecedented effort that has forced a need for imitation. Luckily for us all at that point in time Lyle decided to use his privilege to be provocative in all senses: provoking anger and seduction with the artists as his weapons. Originally he started with artists that were either younger or daring; those that understood that introducing new language was acceptable; that ignoring the establishment's rules was their right; that they had to be themselves. Lyle then decided to take on a heretical attitude as gallerist, curator, exhibit designer and arbiter of taste. I enjoy his personality and his space with its air of anarchy and rock and roll. Jury dismissed.

“22 on Tour” is a reflection of a tireless and systematic work started by the rocker gallerist 22 years ago, fostering the development of the careers of Dominican, Caribbean and Latin American artists, from Dominican Republic to the world, with impeccable coherence and rigor in his selection, using as his basic tools, a critical eye, intuition and a very peculiar taste that transcends styles and trends, discovering new emerging talents and supporting an important group of artists of several generations of ethical and honest work, placing the artists at the same level of their colleagues of other latitudes and integrating their works in international private and institutional collections.

LOR Gallery has established itself as a vanguard of art in the country, being the refuge for irreverent and controversial artists like José García Cordero, Hulda Guzmán, Raúl Recio (better known as “l’enfant terrible” of contemporary art in DR), representing iconic artists of the caliber of José Bedia and Ignacio Iturria, Luis Cruz Azaceta and Edouard Duval Carrié, among others. The gallery has organized countless exhibitions in museums, institutions and galleries around the world, also participating in some of the most prestigious international art fairs like: 'ARCO Madrid', 'VOLTA NewYork', 'Context Art MIami', 'Context New York', 'ArteBa' Buenos Aires, 'Pulse Miami', 'Scope New York’, 'Scope Miami’, 'Pinta Londres’, 'Pinta New York' 'Zona Maco', Mexico, ‘Miar't, Milano, Italia, ‘Kiaf', Seul, Korea, among others.