VICTORIA'S SECRET ART

On this page are some of the beautiful paintings of my cousin, Victoria or Marivic as my family fondly call her from Melbourne, Australia. I first learned in August this year when she called me to view and comment on her new paintings in Gubatnons Everywhere!, a social networking of Ning.Com of my fellow Gubatnons in the Internet. I was surprised and couldn't believe how she made her first two paintings beautifully. These are, "Mother and Child" and "The Money Tree" She painted impeccably with a brush stroke of a gifted artist. The colors are magnificently balanced and anyone who will see it will really appreciate its originality and form. Her genre is figurative or relating to or representing form in art by means of human or animal figures.

Edith and I learned a while back that she joined a painting class, so she could just paint a piece of art by herself and avoid buying very expensive paintings in Melbourne to hang on her vacant walls. By a stroke of luck, she ended painting very well and got many orders from her friends who liked her paintings very much. I can just imagine now if she becomes popular and she would exhibit in a one-man show in a noted gallery in Melbourne. Well, she was a good artist back then and made everything exquisitely beautiful the way she helped my children on their projects in their science or art subjects when she was with us in Makati. Then, in every establishment that she worked for, Victoria always tried to set up a better way to improve ideas through her skill in art. Well, she is a person who can eye a flaw or imperfection instantly in her work environment.

Victoria is married to Andrew Hall, a businessman. They have been married for more than six years now. They are living in Melbourne and have two children, Ashleigh and Portia. My children, Agatha, Aurora, Ponchie and my daughter-in-law, Babylin attended their wedding in June, 2004 in a Catholic ceremony. The reception was held in a yacht cruise in Melbourne bay. My children enjoyed every minute of their visit, touring some beautiful and noted sites as well.

Arturo Luz's exhibit at the Art Center in Megamall

Everytime I go to the SM Megamall in Ortigas, Mandaluyong, I always try to visit the many Art Galleries located at the fourth floor of this big mall. Being an avid fan of filipino artists, I always update myself on their latest works and try to discover some old paintings of famous artists displayed on these galleries. My son, Ponchie began to realize the importance of owning some works of new artists, bought at a fair price today and as it ages the price could escalate afterwards. He bought two artworks by Alan Morales and Fatima recently which I would say, they are a good investment today and later on he will not regret that he bought it.

As my lovely wife, Edith and I went shopping the other day we happened to visit the Art Center at the Building A at the fourth floor to view the recent works of a very popular artist which incidentally, is one of my favorite abstract artists, Arturo Luz whose many paintings could be seen hanging on the walls of the homes of the rich and famous. As many local lifestyle magazines feature these beautiful homes, very seldom that you will not find Arturo Luz's masterpieces.

As I read his biography, Arturo Luz is a painter, sculptor and designer. He received the National Artist Award in Visual Arts in 1997. He is best known for his works in linear art and a series on street musicians, vendors, cyclists and carnival performers. He is also an sculptor whose works are in metal, wood and concrete characterized by sophisticated simplicity and exemplify sublime austerity in their expression and form. Arturo Luz himself described his paintings as "semirepresentational, semi abstract"

Luz was born in Manila in 1926 and began his lessons in painting under Pablo Amorsolo, brother of the National Artist, Fernando Amorsolo. He finished his Fine Arts degree in University of Santo Tomas then received a scholarship at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland. He continued his education at the Brooklyn Museum Art School in New York.Then he started his own figurative works but developed into abstraction.

He exhibited his first one-man show in Paris by his drawings at the Raymond Duncan Gallerie in 1951. He held his first solo exhibit in Manila Hotel when he returned to Manila on the same year. In 1960, he put up the Luz Gallery wherein contemporary works were showcased by different artists. As I always see his works on some selected galleries in Megamall, you would recognized his works by geometrical forms in lines, curves, circles and angles with meticulous simplicity with subdued colors and unobtrusive form.

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.