The Gallery of Peninsula and the Archipelago gathered artists from Ateneo's faculty and staff for an art exhibit. It featured various artwork from different media such as painting, sculpture, photography and arts and craft. The Opening program was held at the Carlos Dominguez Conference Hall, 5:30 on July 17, 2014. Father Willy Samson gave the opening remarks and I gave an inspirational speech about my journey as an artist. The artists were recognized followed by the ribbon cutting at the Gallery by art advocate Councilor Gerky Valesco and Fr. Willy. Here are the photos of the exhibit launch. Click for larger view.













Fr. Willy and Councilor Gerky for the ribbon-cutting ceremony.




Maam Maui, department chair of Computer Science dept and Sir Romeo Rabajante




With Maam Sandra Jamiro featuring her awesome paintings.


My artworks, "Vinta de Zamboanga" and "Love Heals 2.0", experimental mixed media sculpture made of scrap wood, nails and strings. Click for larger view!


My ever supportive friends. Thanks for being there for me guys! Love you so much!



Here's my artist statement:

As a young boy I always wanted to be a great artist like Van Gogh and Andy Warhol. But art classes meant watching my mom do cross-stitch all day. I didn't even know how to draw and paint like real artists do. But somehow my eagerness to do beautiful images and my resourcefulness revealed my creative side when I learned how to use Photoshop. I ventured into creating Photo-manipulations and Digital Illustrations by using my doodles as my reference images. I discovered that by creating images I can express myself and show people an art that is developed with technology. There I developed my style of art.

It all starts with doodles, random drawings filled at the last page of my class notebooks. I scan them digitally and transform them using imaging softwares. My favorite subjects are fragments of my being like my experiences, ideas, knowledge, my culture, and my random world of imagination. I always enjoy the process of creation, revision and producing the final form. Most of the time I don't have a concept while doing a work but when every piece has fallen into place a deeper meaning reveals to me which also surprises me. The thrill and excitement of discovery makes me feel like a true artist.

Recently, I had an opportunity to create a set of artworks using traditional medium. My enthusiasm in Painting was reawakened which further pushed me to explore in other medium and forms of art. These are the first set of artworks that are product of my experimentation with wood, nail and strings. Inspired by my mom's cross-stitch works, I attempted to translate my style with the technicality of handicraft. The output is an equitable blend of the rough qualities of carpentry and a delicate nature of embroidery. I am still in constant pursuance of my creative growth and identity and to this day I have renewed hope that someday I will be the artist I always wanted to be.

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UPDATE: Just my doodle art blog about the set of artworks which sparked these set of paintings. Check out my Handmade Wooden Signs here.