“Boljoon Church” by Pempee Yabañez (oil on canvas)
I asked my painter friend Jess Najaro where his work was and he shook his head.
He was not part of the exhibit since it was limited to seniors—that is to say, senior citizen painters.
I could not help but grin. This is the first exhibit I’ve been to that had age as criteria for participants.
So by their joining the “Queen City Color and Hues” exhibit would mean that Publio “Boy” Briones, Wilfredo “Boboy” Cañete, Ramon V. de Dios, Carlos “Carly” Florido, Jaime “Bong” Francisco, Luther Galicano, Mariano “Mar” Vidal, Jose “Pepe” Villadolid, Jose “Kimsoy” Yap and Jose “Pempee” Ybañez are now 60 years old or older.
“Sea Nomads” by Kimsoy Yap (watercolor)
These names had dominated Cebu’s visual arts scene for decades. Somehow lumping all of them together in an exhibit (Jan. 11 to 31 at the Cebu City Museum) provides a sort of collective retrospective of how these artists viewed our local ground all these years.
I’ve always been skeptical about the exhibits of these masters, more so if it is a group show, as it often becomes more of a “competition” of skill and craftsmanship and less about vision, regularly offering landscapes, architecture, and portraits in oil and watercolor.
Also, I’m biased toward works that challenges or shake up norms.
And so I came to the show to relax, take in some eye candy.
“Unwavering Faith”
by Publio Briones
(oil on canvas)
Still, some surprises greeted me.
The ones that caught my attention were “Muse” by de Dios and “Sea Nomads” by Kimsoy Yap.
“Muse,” an oil on canvas, plays games on perspective by providing echoes of patterns in presenting a scene at an exhibition.
Kimsoy Yap’s “Sea Nomads” is a watercolor portrait of the seafaring Bajao tribe that have relocated to our city and seems to have adapted quite well to our rough metropolis.
Go check out this exhibit and see the world in the eyes of our “older” artist folks. Certainly, this show adds another attraction to the Sinulog celebration.