By DAVID CRUZ

Call him the Pablo Picasso of Bedford Park.

Persio Minier, a pony-tailed, award-winning artist hailing from the Dominican Republic, has made a career emulating the Spanish genius for decades. Since the beginning of 2014, he’s showcased his work at a tiny Bedford Park art gallery that doubles as a speech therapy center.

At the moment, Minier is showcasing a series dubbed “Vestiges of Passion,” a set of abstract pieces that total a fraction of his entire anthology of works. Minier’s works hark back to that of Picasso, the famed impressionistic artist who broke artistic lines. Minier admits the comparison is by design.

“Picasso, above all, I identify with because he was very liberated in his approach,” said Minier, 59. “He said even at 70 years old he was learning something. That means to tell me that for us who aren’t geniuses, unlike Picasso, we’ll always learn something. With art you never stop learning.”

Minier spoke to the Norwood News from the Bedford Arts Center that sits on 234 East 204th St. off the Grand Concourse, a quaint site for an artist whose works have been shown throughout the city, in parts of New Jersey, his native country, and a lobby around the corner from his Bedford Park home.

Minier’s artistic drive began in the Dominican Republic, where he began painting at age 7. He first showcased his work at Club Quisqeya in Valverde Mao. He later moved to Santiago, Dominican Republic, where he enrolled in art classes in his teens before moving to New York City to immerse himself in the craft. He understood the risk of spending a lifetime as a starving artist.

“I wanted to educate myself in the vibrancy of art here,” said Minier of New York City. “There’s a lot of artists from parts of the world here.”

He first lived in Manhattan before moving to Soundview and settling in Bedford Park.
Minier has dabbled in other art forms that include modern art pieces that make a political, environmental and social statement. At the gallery, one of his works comprised of toy soldiers, plants and a green-colored water jug with a U.S. dollar taped to it symbolize the Dominican Republic’s propensity to favor mineral mining over the environment, he said.

For Minier, there’s always a statement to make about art. There’s also enough passion in him to last two lifetimes. “If I were to reincarnate,” said Minier, “I’d still be an artist.”

Editor’s Note: Those interested in seeing the gallery can contact Minier at (347) 666-5703.

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.