Pintô: Opening doors for contemporary art

The split-level galleries and fountains around it reminded me of art spaces I have visited in Texas and New Mexico. But this was not in Southwestern United States or Central America. It was in a hilly subdivision of Antipolo. Pintô is a portal to one of the newest places to visit Philippine contemporary art. Dr Joven Cuanang, owner of Boston Gallery along Boston St. Cubao, and patron of the Salingpusa art group, decided another space could open up doors for appreciating art.

Visitors can expect a well-designed, appropriately lit and cool interiors by visual artist Antonio Leaño. This space complements Bahay Silangan, a gallery and artists’ studio, donated by benefactor Doña Erlinda Ilusorio. The idea is to connect the art spaces around the areas and integrate them into the Silangan Gardens.

According to Cuanang, he wanted Pintô Art Gallery to be a venue for contemporary Filipino art in eastern Manila and Rizal. While Boston Gallery has become renowned for its figurative art exhibitions, he sees Pintô as "a space for more non-representational and experimental art." Eventually, the aim of the gallery is "to foster art appreciation and dialogue among visual artists, art connoisseurs and the local community."

Cuanang has been involved in all those activities to some extent. The Bahay Silangan, for instance, integrates some of his interests as a medical doctor and educator. At the basement are the living quarters for junior interns from UERMMMC. These interns go out to the remote parts of Rizal to obtain their required community service and help out those who are in need of but have little access to medical attention. The Silangan is also a reforestation center where narra and hardwood seedlings are distributed to different sites around Antipolo. Cuanang’s friends, including artists, and Antipolo resident Lino Severino, are involved in the Clean and Green Drive, encouraging the community in activities such as segregation of rubbish, composting and organic gardening. Cuanang believes that this is also part of the artists’ work and those who support the arts.

A similar sense of purpose may be gleaned from the way Pintô has been designed and from the arrangement of its inaugural exhibits. There is a straight-forwardness about it as though the people behind this project want us to focus on the artworks and the way they are put together.

The artworks are on the whole atypical of those the featured artists usually exhibit. Designed by visual artist Antonio Leaño, Pintô was made for just under a million pesos.

"I wanted to see if it’s possible," he pointed out, "to build a space that sets some standards in terms of providing a good setting for art without costing a fortune."

The result has proved his point. Pintô does not have air-conditioning and uses natural light as much as possible. Leaño considered the way air moves and installed lots of windows and openings for cross-ventilation. Deciding to forsake air-conditioning for the meantime is not only economical and better for the environment; it also keeps the artworks at constant temperature. On the other hand, UV rays from natural light sources in the building is damaging to light-sensitive artworks. Perhaps later they could invest in filters for their skylight and windows. Even if Pintô is a gallery that sells art and not a museum, helping to insure the preservation of artists’ works is one way of showing support to them.

Upon entering the gallery, I easily imagined myself being taken to another place. All walls are white, alluding to its Ilocano-Mexican fusion design – much like Cuanang’s residence next door.

This is not such a far-fetched combination since the Philippines by the 19th century was managed from Mexico. In addition, the galleon trade at that time became a means of exchanging goods as well as cultures. So the diffusion of styles and designs was often borrowed and re-interpreted. In a sense this eclecticism pervades throughout the Gallery Shop, which greets visitors as soon as they cross the threshold. This sprawls around the L-shaped lobby area, next to the open courtyard. Antiques, reproduction furniture, lamps, candleholder and other arty merchandise and even food are for sale.

Cuanang says retailing is a way of making Pintô financially viable. Hanging around the shop walls are Mark Justiniani’s acrylics on paper paintings. They are small and the intimate space of the shop is an appropriate setting for them.

At the center of the lobby is a roofless courtyard with a graphic art-inspired purple-and-blue wall fountain. The loose gravel in and the selected plants around the small square soften its hard angles. Moreover, Leaño added a sliding double door that has symmetrical curvilinear iron designs next to the courtyard. This leads to Gallery I, which is a tall space that is probably 15 feet high. Leaño’s mixed media works are installed here. With their predominantly ochre and gray tinge and their variable sizes, they successfully blend with the clean, minimalist design of the gallery. This is the same sort of context for Gemo Tapales’ collages in Gallery II on the upper floor. The concerns for cross-ventilation demanded wide, open windows between the galleries, one of which gives visitors a partial view from either side.

Prior to Pintô, Cuanang had been organizing intermittent exhibitions from his house where walls were emptied of his collection to host a temporary display of works . These events were mostly organized for his friends. He has now incorporated his house with the activities of Pintô, opening it to Elmer Borlongan’s pastels.

"This is the first time he’s exhibited a collection of works using pastel," beams Cuanang. It also became apparent that he is proud of Borlongan’s large-scale oil painting featuring a procession for the Virgin of Antipolo. This hangs distinctively in his living room.

Cuanang’s generosity of spirit is obvious not merely because of the resources he has given to create Pintô Art Gallery. Rather this also comes out in the manner by which he welcomes the public into his private sanctuary and collection. He has literally thrown open the door to let us in and allow us choices between physically or visually appreciating the art and objects in the gallery.

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Pintô Art Gallery is open daily. Call 697-10-15 or 0917-3579945 for inquiries.

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