‘Kulay sa Tubig’ continues to champion watercolorists
The current coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19) did not stop Gallery Genisis’ “Kulay sa Tubig” annual competition in championing the best of the best watercolorists in the country. As they celebrate their 32nd year, over a hundred highly talented and skilled artists joined the exhibition, which runs until today, at the SM Megamall, Fashion hall.
Gallery Genesis was established in 1981 by a noted and well-respected art collector. The Gallery, which continues to be one of the top galleries locally, was established primarily to provide an exhibition venue for living and promising artists to display and sell their works, to discover and introduce new and talented artists, and to help them nurture and build their careers and their reputation in the Philippine art scene.
“It was established 32 years ago by my mom Araceli ‘Chichi’ Salas. She’s always been an advocate of the arts being an art collector herself as well. That time, she made a decision to start an invitational watercolor competition because she believes it is a difficult medium. In watercolor, you can’t redo your mistakes and you have to start all over again. So it’s really impressive when you see all these beautiful artworks,” Patrice Salas, president of Gallery Genesis, told The Manila Times in an exclusive interview.
“The difference about this specific competition compared to other watercolor competitions is that it is invitational only, so everybody does a pre-screening requirement and the only time you get invited is if you passed the pre-screening. Some of the artists, if they don’t make it, they would come back after a year just so they could actually join. It’s great because you can really see how much love and effort they put into every artwork. It’s not like we have a really big grand prize — it’s really the prestige of being able to compete with the best watercolorists in the country,” she enthused.
This year’s “Kulay Sa Tubig” panel of judges were composed of Florentina “Tina” Colayco (President, metropolitan museum); Felipe De Leon Jr. (Former Chairman, NCCA); millie Dizon (Sm Retail Senior Vice President); Kenneth esguerra (Senior Curator, Ayala museum); Patrick Flores (Senior Curator, Vargas museum); Cid Reyes (art critic and art writer); and Armita Rufino (President, Filipino Heritage Inc.).
These illustrious individuals with impeccable credentials named this year’s Top 5 Philippine Watercolorists (Carlo “Kaloy” Caacbay, Jarsen “Sen” Lacson, Julian eymard Paguiligan, Ronnel Pascua and Richard Romeo); five Runnersup (Anna De Leon, Ralvin Dizon, Joie Pabilando, Lester Rodriguez and melissa Villaseñor); and one Hall of Fame awardee (Virgilio “Billy” Pomida Jr.)
Safety and health ensured
Salas sincerely believes that in this time of a pandemic, the exhibition is making history by opening the show to the general public which is a first step of progress for all galleries to slowly but surely enable an audience once again to view artworks up close.
“Actually one of the most difficult things is really being able to see all of the artists together. Before the pandemic happened and from the past exhibitions, we were jam-packed. Now, it was very different because not all the artists were able
to go to the venue. Some of them are from other provinces. We definitely understand because we don’t want to force them, we want to make sure that their health is prioritized,” Salas admitted.
Throughout the exhibition period, the gallery will be implementing strict safety protocols.
“I like to commend our partner, Sm megamall, because they have ensured the health and safety of our guests. one of the things we made sure we do is to limit the people in the exhibit area, we only allow 50 people at a time — even less — just to make sure nobody is too close to one another. of course people are very responsible. They have to do contact tracing, they put alcohol every few minutes,” Salas shared.
Reflecting upon this year, the Gallery then had to settle into the new normal of releasing online exhibitions and finding innovative ways of connecting to the old and new art lovers.
“We’re very active on our Facebook and our Instagram accounts. What we did this year is we put up a virtual art gallery. Kung ano ang nakikita in our exhibit now, they can see it also virtually on our website. So for people who want to see what it
really looks like but can’t, it’s fine because we will bring it to them,” Salas said.
‘Art for a cause’
Aside from showcasing the art pieces, Gallery Genesis aims to raise funds for the benefit of the UP-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH). Seventy-five percent of the gross profit, from the art competition and exhibition proceeds, will be used to purchase face masks, personal protection equipment, and other essential medical items for the beloved frontliners of UP-PGH.
“This is also art for a cause because we want to do our part with what is happening in the country now. Frontliners are really our heroes now and we want to do our part. our artists are selected but they are all excited with this fundraiser that we’re going to do. It’s not just doing it for the love of the arts but also doing it for the love of the country,” Salas declared.
Future of art galleries
Artists and galleries have been through crises before the current pandemic
happens, which is why Salas then assured the public that their gallery and “Kulay sa Tubig” are open to the possibilities that the future may bring.
“Despite the pandemic, we will still do our best to make sure that the competition will happen yearly. Kung ano man dumating na bagong problem, if meron, we will face them together with the artists to be able to still put up a good show. Because I think that when you’re faced with a lot of difficulties just like the pandemic right now, we need to give some sort of light and hope to the people and I think that ‘ Kulay sa Tubig’ does that. It sheds a sense of beauty out of the darkness that we go through,” Salas said.
“For other art exhibitions, I think that galleries in general are trying to really get used to this setting wherein people need to keep social distancing in mind, we have to make sure everyone is wearing face shields, face masks. But again, for the love of the arts, we really have to get used to that. Like we say in Gallery Genesis, ‘new normal, same love for the arts.’ Despite [of having] this new normal, we’re still doing it for the love of the arts,” Salas ended.