Jess Santiago
October 14 – November 11, 2023
Extended until November 27
Opening
October 14 (Saturday), at 4 PM
Parola: UP Fine Arts Gallery
Jacinto St., Diliman, Quezon City
Mukhang Pamilyar (Looks Familiar), the first solo exhibition of artwork by award-winning poet, songwriter, musician, and translator Jesus Manuel (Jess) Santiago.
The art exhibition features 73 paintings in watercolor by Santiago, offering to all a glimpse of how he quietly worked on hundreds of portraits of family, friends, colleagues, and fellow cultural workers in the Philippines arts community for almost a decade.
Many of these artworks were made during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown when social gatherings were restricted and limited. To date, these have never been exhibited publicly as a whole body of work.
Regarded as among the pioneers of people’s music in the Philippines, who penned and performed among the classic protest songs during the dictatorship, Jess Santiago’s original songs are compiled in albums such as Halina (1990), Obando (1993), and Puso at Isip (2008) while his writing was published in books notably the poetry collection Gitara: Mga Tula, 1975-1985 (1997) and Usapang Kanto: Kolumberso (2018). As a translator, he pioneered the Filipino translation of Ernest Hemingway’s 1951 classic novel The Old Man and the Sea, among other projects.
Curated by Lisa Ito, Santiago’s first solo exhibition as a visual artist unveils another rich facet to his practice as a cultural worker: truly an icon in the Philippine arts and culture community.
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
Walk-in guests are warmly welcome from Tuesdays to Saturdays, 9 AM – 4PM. For bookings, visit bit.ly/ParolaVisitorsForm or email us at cfagallery.upd.edu.ph
