Cebu Heritage

CEBU, Philippines – The opening art exhibit for the year by Cebu Artists Inc.’s (CAI) spoors on the vistas that justify

the idiom: “There’s more to something than meets the eye.”

Titled “Cebu Heritage,” the exhibit presents a series of paintings of scenes, icons and landmarks that are synonymous with Cebu. It is a visual treat of what makes Cebu special. It is up to the viewers to discern if the special qualities of the place would change or if these would continue to be in the days, months and years to come.

The show is dominated by representational-themed paintings that depict a number of the landmarks, tourist spots and heritage sites in the city and the province. The works illustrate how the time and the ebbs of change do not escape an artist’s attention – pointing to the artist’s role as a documenter of the signs of the times within his surroundings.

A number of works featured in “Cebu Heritage” seem to egg the viewer to always “look twice” at what seems familiar and common – as something commonly recognizable can have a deceptively unrecognizable side; a mask behind a façade whose meaning is steeped in history, mythology, marks of pop culture and a different meaning to contemporary clichés.

The exhibit runs until the first week of February. The public is invited to drop by the show at the second level of the Ayala Center Cebu expansion wing, to see for themselves the many things about Cebu that are “more than meets the eye” – as perceived, rendered and interpreted by the members of one of the metro’s longest-running visual artist groups.