Boombastic Rachy Cuna

CEBU, Philippines - “What’s this?”, I whispered to myself, witnessing that the amiable Rachy Cuna – no less than the country’s only floral architect – had altogether abandoned the world of fresh flowers.

Or so I thought, stepping into the welcoming lobby of the Hotel Intercontinental Manila, Makati’s first ever five-star hotel.

Billed as Bloom, Bloom, Bloom, the exhibition featured no such abandonment at all, sporting 12 installations of various materials, fashioned into the appearance of flowers – be they bird feathers, tea pots, glass, even dried tree branches.

The marked difference is, instead of arranging flowers, Cuna arranges into flowers a myriad materials not often associated with floral architecture – that is to say, in the vocabulary of art and design, what used to be the content of Cuna’s work, has thoroughly become its form.

Without deviating from the language of flowers, the 12 masterpieces nevertheless exhibited a range, testifying to the artist’s imagination and dexterity. Each with an exotic Oriental flourish, works such as Kwan Yin’s Quest and Hangzhou’s Maiping gift the eye with the restful elegance of color, while those like Aquainfinity with its frenzy of monochromatic branches and Chow Time, with its mad geometric zigzags, can attest one’s gaze with luminous venue. Certainly a bombastic exhibition!

One could jokingly speculate that the flowers that didn’t get exhibited, found their way instead into the delightful cocktail savories as meticulously prepared by the hotel’s Executive Chef Anthony Page, ably assisted by his kitchen staff of the Prince Albert Rotisserie. These gourmet dishes wrought from edible flower ingredients, could bloom in one’s mouth in delicacy almost as much as Cuna’s installations could, in the audience’s sight and mind.

Among those enjoying the night’s opening festivities were the artist’s mother Patsi Cuna and only brother Ricky Cuna, not to mention the usual culturati suspects, from reknowned artist Betsy Westendorp to Ayala Museum curator Ken Esguerra, from National Museum Member of the Board of Trustees Corazon Alvina to National Bookstore’s Sandra Ramos-Padilla.

Also in attendance were Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Gregory Domingo, the American Embassy Counselor for Public Affairs Rick Nelson with his wife Pinky Sabinosa, Japanese Embassy Information and Culture Center Director Takeuchi Kiyoshi and House of Representatives Secretary Ramon Ricardo Roque.

The media was represented by Jullie Yap Daza, Rosalinda Orosa, Chelo Banal-Formoso, Marge Enriquez, Linda Bolido, Bum Tenorio and Arnel Patawaran.