Galerie Joaquin opens its holiday show “A Joyous Season” on Dec. 16. The group exhibit celebrates Christmas with a return to the essentials, a fitting way to cap the year.
“The opening coincides with the first day of Simbang Gabi because we believe that even in these changing times, traditions and values are deeply rooted in us as a people,” says the show’s curator Camille Abello.
As a response to the shocks of the global economic downturn, the Philippines hopes to cope better than its Asian neighbors in this time of crisis. Philippine art in particular has enjoyed phenomenal success in auctions of Southeast Asian art, a sign that local artists can hold their own and join the ranks of the region’s best.
“A Joyous Season” is on view until Dec. 31 at Galerie Joaquin, 371 P. Guevarra Street corner Montessori Lane, Addition Hills, San Juan. For inquiries, visit www.galeriejoaquin.com or call 723-9418 or 723-9253.
Included in the exhibit are works by Juvenal Sanso, Arturo Luz, Mario Parial, Lydia Velasco, Dominic Rubio, Jovan Benito, Nell Campos, Aileen Lanuza, Amador Barquilla, Crisanto Lodronio, Joselito Dayono, Alan Rapsing, Ronino Quinto, Chubern di Loretto and Glenn Cagandahan.
Among the featured artworks are the unhurried Yuletide preparations depicted in the whimsical “Simbang Gabi” series by Benito, the merriment of townsfolk in the colorful “Parol Vendors” by Barquilla, a light moment in the heroine portrait “Goldfish Martini” by Lanuza, and the study of form and color “Harmonized Imaginings” by Sanso.