KASINING ESSAYS by Arnaldo de Tondo

  Essay 59. THE DYNAMIC LADY PAINTER  By Arnaldo Bernabe Mirasol  JOSEPHINE "ESANG" BEJASA ADAME belongs to a not quite long line of Filipino painters who espouse environmentalism in art. Most prominent among them are Prudencio Lamarroza and Rafael Cusi. I was at the opening of "Myth and Magic in the Image of Woman", Prudencio Lamarroza's 1984 art exhibit at the Gallery Genesis which featured his Amburayan Queen series. It was my first time to encounter the actual and stunning works of Lammaroza, the artist dubbed as an ecological painter by art critic Leo Benesa. Rafael Cusi, at around the same time, was also making a name for himself for his series of watercolors celebrating colorful marine life. Cusi is Esang's uncle. Thus, we can surmise that it was he who inspired Esang to take up art as her other profession. Why other profession? That's because Accounting is what Esang took up in college at the University of Batangas. She later earned her Master...

  Essay 58. OF LIGHTHOUSES AND DARK PLACES (The Art of Esther Sevilla-Garcia) "My spiritual calling is also to be the light and salt of the earth," so declared Esther at the conclusion of my online interview with her. Why salt? What's with salt? Jesus Christ in his sermon on the mount described the crowd he was addressing as the salt of the earth - by which he meant that they were worthy, virtuous, and valuable. Ester aspires to be like them. Esther's statement reveals her altruistic mindset. She opened her own gallery in Loyola Heights after graduating cum laude in Fine Arts (her second degree) at the University of the Philippines in 1998. Her gallery, the MSG Gallery, was where she held art workshops. Esther later on organized her students and formed the Amber Group. The thrust of her gallery being precisely to provide exposure to the art of her students, it was there that Esther mounted group shows to showcase their output. Sadly though, even if the Amber Group is ...