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by Karylle

Art connoisseur, I am… not.

In fact, the only reason why I know the word “connoisseur” is because I would misspell it all the time on my spelling tablet back in high school.  I’d love to write something about the lights and shadows of the painting, its mood, the era it’s from but a sophisticated eye for art is not something I possess. I’ve been to the Louvre in Paris, I’ve seen the Mona Lisa (La Gioconda) by Leonardo da Vinci, I’ve got the Pop Art Andy Warhol Tomato Soup can in my bedroom but that’s as far as my “name-dropping” can go.  So, I’d like to talk about the art that I’ve encountered in the past few months now that I’ve gone beyond my beautiful doodles of stick figures, hearts, dots and stars as well as my erasable Microsoft Paint colored shapes which could rival the MMDA art that fill our streets.

My Internet addiction has gotten me bombarded with photos on Facebook and Multiply.  Images upon images of everyday life… it makes me thirst for something more. Something more than what’s real: blurry photos that are not well lit, inanimate objects like food from various restaurants, people taking photos of themselves which they’ve perfected by stretching out the hand on the side of their face that they think is their best angle wearing an overly practiced smile, and faces or bodies “photoshopped” beyond recognition.

So here’s the story of my journey as I’ve immersed myself in the art world. I don’t think I did the steps in the right order but that’s the way the story goes.

STEP #1

I test the waters by diving right into the art pool.

Me and my painting that I made during my retreat with Tita Maribi Mapa-Garcia and the Assumption sisters in their beautiful retreat house in Baguio

Around this time last year, I went on a retreat in the Assumption retreat house in Baguio City to heal my broken heart so to speak.  One thing that people don’t really know about is that I painted for the first time while I was there. My retreat master was Tita Maribi Mapa-Garcia (Bethesda Springs of Hope). Tia Maribi—my partner in Centerstage Family KTV on both Jupiter and Tomas Morato as well as Mei Lin, Tomas Morato—is actually a painter. She just had another very successful exhibit at Le Soufflé called 3 is Company together with Father Paul Yntig and Father Armand Tangi, famous painter of The Laughing Christ, Jesus with a cellphone and on a motorcycle, and different images of Jesus in modern times.

I did not make enough paintings for an exhibit, but sitting on a rock on the hill looking at the pines of Baguio city where I had spent summers and Christmas vacations as a kid was my favorite part of the retreat.  Though I had the most colorful, kindergarten-like painting, I am proud of the paint stains on my jogging pants and fingers which made me feel one with the other artists of the world in their studios with their big ‘ol berets. I finally tried something I’ve wanted to do for a long time even if I was so scared of painting something ugly.

STEP #2

Okay, so maybe diving into something isn’t the best first step so, I took it easy by “putting my left foot in” in perfect Hokey Pokey song-and-dance style. Step #2 was to pose as Maria Makiling in the UP Los Baños Botanical garden for various painters and photographers.  I received an invitation from my Tita Angel Tatlonghari in behalf of the UP Alumni Association and the Mt. Makiling Foundation to be a muse! Imagine that.  Any fears of posing nude were squashed when I found out that Bill Gustilo would be making my baro with tulip sleeves made of the local fabric sinamay combined with chiffon. Of course, I gladly posed as Maria whom I’ve always watched in awe as a child every time I would visit my Lola in Laguna while she slept soundly on the mountain named after her.

I thought that wading in the art pool would be cool and refreshing, I didn’t realize that I had to pose all day from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Okay, it wasn’t so bad because I had short breaks in between insect bites and posing without batting an eyelash. I think I got gently scolded a dozen times for shifting my eyes which was not allowed.  It was difficult to focus my eyes on one spot while the onlookers were waving their hands in abandon causing me to be cross-eyed.  And of course there were the memorable kamote chips they served during lunch break which canceled out the difficulty of keeping still for half a day.

Bugs and eye problems aside, it was fun and a big honor to reprise my role as Maria Makiling, a diwata who is a fellow native of Laguna.  It’s a memorable character for me because it was actually my first-ever acting role for Senator Bong Revilla’s movie Agimat: Anting-Anting ni Lolo. Among the artists who shared the cause of preserving Mt. Makiling’s beauty that day were Cheloy Dans, Jess Abrera, Angel Cacnio, Cris Cruz, Dominic Rubio, Tessie Duldulao, Fred Liongoren, Jonah Salvosa, Adi Baens Santos, Boy Valino, Mar Bongalon, Gig de Pio, Ding Hidalgo, Romy Mananquil, Pit Santiago and Janice Young. The event was also graced by Batangas Governor Vilma Santos-Recto and singer Dulce.

Read the full blog of Karylle in the November 2009 issue of S Magazine.