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| With a few of mine and Valerie Chua's paintings, at ManilART |
I can't even begin to describe ManilART. I mentioned in my previous post that I was participating in this prestigious event, and now that the event is over, I still can't believe I was part of it at all.
ManilART is the biggest art event of the year, a chance for leading art galleries in the Philippines to come together and showcase their prized collections, and for budding artists, such as myself, to make their presence in the scene known. This year, the event boasted the participation of 40 major galleries, and over 400 artists - the biggest gathering yet.
I was blessed with the opportunity to be featured as one of the exhibiting artists by Romana Go, ManilART's current art director. She was already an acquaintance of mine; we'd meet time and time again, and I always enjoyed her quirky company. A few months ago, we met again at a party at my boyfriend's house, and during one of the conversations, she suddenly broached the subject about ManilART, how she had been assigned the role of art director. I was thrilled for her, of course, and secretly hoping that I'd be able to visit the exhibit this year. To my absolute horror, she casually mentioned that I be a part of it. Before I could recover, she began talking specifics: what medium I used, how many paintings I had, how many more could I do... by the time the party was over, my mind was abuzz. My participation in the exhibit wasn't set in stone, but I had resolved to produce as many paintings as I could nonetheless.
The wheels were in motion, however; as I strove to make one painting a week, Romana would contact me for updates and news concerning ManilART. My being part of it still wasn't sure - at least to me it wasn't, but I was forced to think otherwise when out of the blue, she asked me to participate in a press interview for the event at SM Megamall. And everything escalated from there: my artwork was splashed on a promotional ManilART tumbler and sold and given away, I was featured on the ManilART Facebook page (you can see the post here), and my paintings were set up on display at the Moon Dragon Art Gallery booth in the SMX Convention Center.
The wheels were in motion, however; as I strove to make one painting a week, Romana would contact me for updates and news concerning ManilART. My being part of it still wasn't sure - at least to me it wasn't, but I was forced to think otherwise when out of the blue, she asked me to participate in a press interview for the event at SM Megamall. And everything escalated from there: my artwork was splashed on a promotional ManilART tumbler and sold and given away, I was featured on the ManilART Facebook page (you can see the post here), and my paintings were set up on display at the Moon Dragon Art Gallery booth in the SMX Convention Center.