A Glimpse of Cebuano Art

CEBU, Philippines — Art holds different meanings to different people. To some, it’s simply an adjunction of richness whose sole point is to be beside the point. To others, it’s the line that defines the distance between two contrasting points, much like a lie which, one way or another, leads to the truth.

A recent art exhibit consolidated perceptions on the multi-veiled meanings and portents of art – in a way presenting its verity as something which can only be gleaned though glimpses of the space that lie between opposing views.

Titled “Cebuano Art: A Glimpse,” the show, which ran from March 8 to 28 at the 7th and 8th levels of Maayo Hotel located along Plaridel St. in Barangay AlangAlang, Mandaue City, featured artworks by Cebuano masters and novices who are affiliated with the ArtPortal visual artists collective.

Presenting classic, modernist and contemporary-themed pieces, it was a show of the creative counterculture cycles in Cebu in the past decades.

From prints by Manuel Rodriguez Sr., the “Father of Philippine Printmaking,” to watermedia pieces by Tito Cuevas, a forerunner in Cebuano abstract expressionism, the show served as a primer on art’s evolution in Cebu through the years.

Showcasing how Cebuano talents render figurative, impressionist, expressionist and suprematist motifs, the exhibit bookended how Cebuano talents have taken art to the next level – reflecting the ebbs and the peaks they’ve been through.

Equal parts thought-provoking and enlightening, the exhibit may have had the word “glimpse” in its title, but in its entirety, it effectively defined how far Cebuano art has come, gone and is set to find its place in the undiscovered country that is the future.