Keeping in Line
New artist in town Paulina Luz Sotto is following in the footsteps of her grandfather, writes Cristina Morales
hen your grandfather is someone the likes of National Artist Arturo Luz, it’s only natural that you’d have at least some kind of predilection towards the visual arts. That wasn’t immediately obvious in the case of Paulina Luz Sotto, who grew up surrounded by her grandfather’s art, yet remained totally uninterested in that world until, by chance, she found herself in a basic art class.
Today, Sotto has a promising art career in front of her. Though a little green, she’s continuously discovering new techniques, and is always brimming with ideas. The challenge is finding the time to execute them; aside from commissions, wedding planning is also taking up much of her time—her now-fiancé Jed Llanes proposed to her early this year after one and a half years of dating. Sotto is 24 years old, which may seem a little young for marrying these days, but she knows what she’s doing. (“When you know, you know.”) She’s just as sure about her art, and, though still fresh from her first exhibition, Sotto is already in the process of planning for her next.
It’s hard to imagine that if it wasn’t for a certain high school art class, Sotto’s talents would probably be lying dormant to this day. She was 15 and living in the United States at the time, and as she was a new kid, she didn’t have any control over her schedule. Sotto was more than a little apprehensive when she found out that she was put in an art class. “I didn’t want to be there because I didn’t think I could draw or anything, but I didn’t have much of a choice,” she explains. The class’ first assignment was to draw an intricate knight in shining armour. They were given copies of the drawing, but they were told to draw it upside down in order to keep selfdoubt and second-guessing at bay. After Sotto was finished with her drawing and flipped it right side up, she was taken aback with how well it turned out. “I was so happy,” she recounts. “And really, really shocked. I could draw after all!”
After two years in the States, she moved back to Manila and started painting portraits for fun. However, she didn’t take art seriously, and it ended up taking the backseat when she enrolled in the Ateneo de Manila University to study communications. Her creative energies were redirected to other interests. “I really love musical theatre, and I’m a frustrated singer/ dancer/actress,” Sotto confesses.
Her father is actor and television personality Vic Sotto, and her mum is former model Angela Luz, so the notion of joining the entertainment industry did come to her a few times. “I thought that since my whole family is in showbiz, I might as well try it out,” she says. “I tried joining Myx as a VJ, but I really didn’t like it because you have to wait eight hours to film three minutes. Then, I was an extra in my dad’s movie, but I waited eight hours for a 30-second scene. It just wasn’t for me.”
Sotto eventually graduated cum laude from Ateneo. “I’ve had to work for everything. I worked my hardest to graduate with honours, and by the end of it I was exhausted,” she says. “There are people who don’t have to study or try hard for anything, and they still