Manuel Baldemor's One man exhibit in Megamall

MANUEL BALDEMOR, SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE EXHIBIT

I just love visiting art galleries at the 4th floor of Megamall where I often hung out. I have been very keen on eyeing lots of paintings especially my favorite works of famous filipino painters. I have seen many works of these in books, exhibits, magazines before. Believe it or not, I can spot a painting of Joya, Luz, Magsaysay-Ho, Alcuaz, Ben Cabrera and many more just by gazing at them at a distance. Every artist has his own style. I have some paintings myself at home of Ben Alano, Sofronio Mendoza and Judy Salamat and Miguel Galvez. They may not be familiar to anyone but their works can be seen and annotated in Philippine Art books and online.

These galleries carry different filipino artists in their show rooms according to their own genre. There are new filipino artists who are beginning to excel and shine to the likes of filipino art lovers. These are Belleza and her children, Fatima and Marcial; Antonio, Malang, Toti Cerda, Morales and many more. Painting can be very expensive these days especially from the artists that belong to the old masters like Amorsolo, Hidalgo, Luna and many others. It can fetch 6 to 7 digits of your bank account easily in order to own one.

The later artists like Joya, Legaspi, Kiukok, Anita Magsaysay Ho, Edades, Sanso, Onib Olmedo, Arturo Luz, Ben Cabrera are less expensive but can be very rare to be seen in these galleries since the rich and famous had bought most of their works and when you see some in these galleries, these were up for sale as a turnover for buyers who invested early on for future windfall. It is a good investment but learn to choose from these artists.

ART CENTER, MEGAMALL

A one man show is always on exhibit at the Art Center on the same floor where these galleries are located at the Megamall. I had the chance of visiting at the exhibit of Manuel Baldemor recently. Using my dependable Nokia 6630 as my camera, I made many shots that I uploaded to our PC at home. Manuel Baldemor by the way is a multi talented artist. He is a painter, sculptor, print maker and book illustrator. I had seen some of his works before but it did not impress me much.

The simplicity of his art intrigued me as any one would suggest that it is a work of an ordinary artist. For obvious reason, there are some works that regularly hung in some galleries that carry his name. I came to realize that I was wrong. As you look at his works closely, he infuses colors and blended well by good execution of his brush strokes. His style is mostly landscapes depicting an effect of a childlike art that can easily seduces the eyes in its barest form. It has very basic lines and his range of pallet colors are glossy and a very comprehensible art indeed. At some point he embossed his paint too thick to add impact on his subject.

All his paintings were done in acrylic. It reminded me of Van Gogh's landscapes. I guess, there is a similarity of art here. All his exhibit works were done in France this year. On these paintings were scenes from Cote d' Azur, Marsailles, St. Tropez, The basilica of St. Therese of Lisieux, the French Reviera and Paris.

UNICEF'S CONTRIBUTING ARTIST

The one thing that impresses me most of Manuel Baldemor is that 30 of his designs were contributed to the UNICEF's reproduction of Christmas greeting cards. He was continuously chosen for straight 17 years as a contributing artist for the yearly designs. A remarkable feat considering that there are many artists worldwide competing for that honor. His international accomplishments extends to different cities of the world exhibiting one man shows for his works including Tokyo, Madrid, Paris, Berlin, Singapore, Vienna, Munich, London, Dusseldorf, New York, Copenhagen, to name a few.