It was a night of art appreciation, a first for the newest mall in town, J Centre Mall. Located at A.S.Fortuna in Mandaue City, the mall held the opening of its first art exhibit dubbed “Cultural Confluence 5” last January 20. The exhibit which will run for a month, showcases no less than the works of the painters of Cebu Artists Incorporated headed by Celso Duazo Pepito with Darby Alcoseba and Sonia Yrastorza, to name a couple of them.
Given the honors to do the ceremonial ribbon-cutting to formally open the exhibit were: the vibrant Cebu City Councilor Hon. Margot V. Osmeña, top entrepreneur Mr. Jay Aldeguer, the country’s fashion designer of the hour and Cebu’s very own, Cary Santiago, and the ever dynamic general manager of J Centre Mall, Mr. Jerry Uy. Celso Pepito started the short program and shared with the guests the rationale behind the Cultural Confluence series, how it began, its aims and goals. One of these is to initiate a cultural and artistic link with artists from other countries and promote the Filipino’s values and traditions.
Aside from the works of Cebuano artists showcased in this exhibit, works from guest artists from Davao, Malaysia and France are also being featured in Cultural Confluence 6, thus making the title quite apt. The Davao-based artists are Josie Tionko and Lito Pepito who flew in just for the event. The other guest artists from Malaysia and France were Aida Uy Sze, Queenie Chow, Janiz Chan, Bruno Didier and Remy Rault.
Cocktails was served while everyone viewed all the artworks in awe. To all the featured artists, congratulations....cheers! Looking forward to Cultural Confluence 6!