“Filipino Artists in their Studios” Book Launch

Friday, October 30
6:00 PM

Fiesta Pavilion
The Manila Hotel, One Rizal Park, Manila, Philippines

One of the things I look forward to on Mondays is the Mania Bulletin’s Lifestyle Section, in particular the featured atist of the week. Reared on Arnorsolo, Manansala, H.R. Ocampo and thee colleagues. I am often lost in contemporary art. The perceptive at historians and critics of the Bulletin provide the road map, assist in understanding and appreciating the work of established artists and emerging artists alike, initiate the paper’s readers, including me, into the exciting world of talented Filipinos and their incredible imagination and skills.

Jaime C. Laya, Ph. D.
Trustee.
Cultural Corder of the Philippines

This book is a fascinating example of journalism’s aspiration to participate In history. This must have started as an “assignment.” The photo-journalist Pinggot Zulueta and his companion writers in the Mania Bulletin were asked to cover some two or three artists for the leisure section. But it grew into a passion for the painter Pinggot Zulueta who assiduously pursued it as a book project for almost five years. The product is now a compendium of vignettes, in visual and written texts, which document the contemporary art scene. It also posts itself as art criticism, presenting to us readers whom the authors consider as legitimate living artists in the country. Artists who have not been “seen” through Pinggot Zulueta lens should line up for his second volume.

Virgilio S. Almario, Ph. D.
National Artist for Literature
University of the Philippines, Diliman

Masterpieces of Filipino visual artists are often displayed for the eyes of their respective audiences with the signature of the artists signifying authorship. Behind their creations, however, are the lives of the Filipino artists spotlighted in the book “Filipino Artists in their Studios.” This compilation of visual artists seen inside the comforts of their workplace transports the art enthusiasts, artists and the readers to the stories behind the canvasses. This project by the Mania Bulletin’s lifestyle team is a commendable move that illuminates a different side of the Filipinos as artists. It provides the viewers a fresh perspective and a new way of connecting to our Filipino talents. The write-ups compiled from the published articles in Mania Bulletin Lifestyle section are enriched by the beautiful photographs of Jose “Pinggot’ Zulueta, who himself is an artist. On behalf of the National Commission for Culture and Arts (NCCA), I would like to congratulate and thank the Manila Bulletin for this truly remarkable and inspiring endeavor.