MINDSCAPE

Mindscape, an exhibit of 3 post-modern artists who are as diverse in translating art abstraction as they are in character, will be held at the Village Art Gallery, Alabang Town Center . It will open on March 19 with cocktails. Featured artists are:

Sam Penaso, the Boholano visual and performance artist, is distinct in the art he offers. He uses a technique that is reminiscent of ancient cave carvings, and Filipino alphabet found on tablets of wood and stone. Unlike the usual technique of brush strokes, Sam Penaso employs embossing in minimal, almost monochromatic hues. The effect gives visual simplicity but is rich in sense and significance.

A Fine Arts graduate of Technological University of the Philippines, Sam Penaso has exhibited worldwide. He has had 15 solo exhibitions five of which were in Austria , Germany , Japan , Thailand and Singapore . He exhibited also at the Asian International Art Exhibition in Indonesia, Fine Art Biennale in Seoul , ArTriangle in Malaysia , and Young Art Philippines in Luxenbourg. Sam is a core member of the Tupada International Action Art Events as well as the Philippine International Performance Art Festival. He was one of the Philipppine representatives in the 10th Nippon International Performance Art Festival (NIPAF) in Japan.

Maxbal is Maximino Balatbat II of Caloocan City , the son of an architect whose early creative inspiration was a popular brothel in the city’s red light district where he grew up. Maxbal thought he wanted to be his father’s professional heir. He enrolled in Architecture at FEU but after 2 years, he shifted to Fine Arts at UE Caloocan. In 2002 he completed his BFA degree with Advertising as his major. Maxbal had a string of jobs in graphic design before becoming a full-time visual artist.

In 2009, Maxbal won a silver medal at the prestigious Il Lorenzo Magnifico Award in the Florence Biennale in Italy. International artists who share with Maxbal this distinct honor are Christo, Jeanne Claude, Marina Abromavich, among others. His winning work AvenidaManila, is a poignant and imaginative terrain of Manila’s red light district with all its derelict charm, gritty realism and gentle humanity. For this feat, he also received the National Commission for Culture and the Art’s Ani ng Sining Award and the International Achiever and Outstanding Alumni of the University of the East in 2010.

Maxbal won the 2010 Grand Prize in the Non-Representational Category, GSIS Art Competition, the Juror Choice Award of Merit in Philip Morris Philippine Art Awards, the same winning piece is now part of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ collection.

Sam Galvez-Lorenzo literally grew around art. Born at the time her mother established Village Art Gallery, Sam’s childhood was made vibrant by all the colors that swathed her. Lines, shapes, textures of paintings and sculptures from emerging artists to established masters fascinated Sam even as a toddler. Art was captivating to young Sam. There was no way she would not give vent to her artistic longings. Her original course in college was far too different from her passion. She begged her parents to allow her to take up art courses in-between summer breaks. It was in London where Sam honed her budding art skills. She studied first at Hampstead School of Art, and later at Central St. Martins.

“Abstraction is mysterious,” Sam believes. Like the mind whose potential cannot be restricted nor limited, Sam’s abstract pieces conjure images whose narratives relate varied and diffused stories, each one different depending on how her viewers want to tell them. Her colors are lambent, radiant and shimmering. She colors her canvasses sometimes in strong hues but never shocking. Her lines are flowy, like wind billowing. When one looks at her works, the attraction is transmitted through a language of harmony.

Mindscape is Sam Galvez-Lorenzo’s 3rd group exhibit. Her 1st group exhibit was at the Exhibition Center for Contemporary Arts back in 2007. Also an art teacher, Sam Galvez-Lorenzo offers art workshops for children and teens on a regular basis at Village Art Gallery, Home Zone, 1st Level, Alabang Town Center. Summer classes will be offered on April 6 to May 26, 2011.

Mindscape will run until April 5, 2011. Choice pieces from the exhibit will be available for viewing at Village Art Gallery’s website (www.villageartgallery.biz).