IN PROGRESS at Qube Gallery in Crossroads, Banilad, since last Friday and up to Sept. 27 is a solo painting exhibit by Jose Mari Picornell titled “Pintar La Noche.” Translated, that’s “Paint the Night.”
The show consists of 21 paintings — quite large — depicting night scenes from all over Cebu City. Last Friday on opening night, there was a swarm of art collectors who snapped up twelve of the works before the expo had been thoroughly viewed.
From the press kit, we quote painter Sonia Yrastorza who has written the exhibition notes:
“For this one-man show, Jose Mari Picornell revisits his daytime subjects at night! The absence of daylight brings itself many challenges but also opens a unique perspective in composition and color.
“Often surrounded by street children, he paints at dusk and finishes the entire work before dawn, before the light returns.
“The race to capture the moment in these few hours of darkness brings a feeling of urgency conveyed clearly in his paintings, almost a desperation to preserve the fleeting moments of beauty before it disappears forever at sunrise.
“The 21 works that emerged for this series captured wonderful, disparate night time scenes from bustling ukay-ukay stalls to bar scenes, the world alive at night.
“The clever depiction of the touching scene of people stopping by the Basilica on their way home from work shows Picornell’s intense sensitivity to the Cebuano culture and brings to us this poignant view of the every day life of a hard-working and devout people.”
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Today, Sept. 22, at 3 p.m., the Radisson Blu Hotel launches “Love Blu, Be Pink,” a signature afternoon high tea at the Dilmah t-Bar.
This is in observance of Pink October for the benefit of the I Can Serve Foundation. A business class suite in the hotel has been done entirely in pink.
On the other hand, on Oct. 1, it is the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino that goes Pink in partnership with the Calayan Medical Group for a Night of Breast Cancer Awareness. It starts at 6 p.m. at the hotel’s grand lobby.
In progress at Cafe Marco of the Marco Polo Plaza Hotel, for lunch and dinner, is Bon Appetit, a French culinary journey from yesterday on to Sept. 25.
Featured to prepare the authentic French cuisine is chef Olivier Foucke from the Xiamen Marco Polo Hotel.