'Pinoy Culture in Action' in Adeste Deguilmo's one-man exhibit at the Manila Pen

Cebu-based visual artist Adeste Deguilmo had a successful three-day one-man exhibit at the Manila Peninsula Hotel in Makati recently, marking his debut in the capital with the presence of art patrons from Cebu and Manila, as well as show of support from the members of the Artists Association of the Philippines.

Dubbed as "Memories of a Race," his seventh one-man exhibit to date was sponsored by the UP College of Medicine Class 1986, led by Dr. Joy Evangelista, a gallery owner who became an avowed fan of the Basilan-born Adeste after she first got a hold of a painting of his more than a decade ago.

Adeste took up Fine Arts at the University of the Philippines-Cebu, reaped accolades here and abroad, and underwent an artist residence program in Vienna, Austria through the auspices of the Cebu Arts Council.

About 30-plus paintings were put on display, with more than 20 works snapped up already on the first day of his Manila Pen exhibit. He describes his labor of love: "In terms of style, my paintings would fall on the category of realism and in technical expression would be called painterly of the loose manner, not the classical tight type."

Adeste left his post as Fine Arts teacher at the University of San Carlos to devote a whole year to the making of the paintings. Following the success of his latest exhibit, the 42-year-old painter shares that he's going full-time at his art - a passion of his since he started doodling in pencil at the age of three.

The soft-spoken Adeste, who was accompanied by his wife, hopes viewers of his works will "experience the joy of discovery."

Looking at his paintings, the viewer also comes to understand and contemplates on - not without a tinge of nostalgic intensity - the transience of time, the beauty of the past, and the many defining Filipino ways. The scenes captured on canvas depicted our culture in action... from young boys in a game of basketball on an unpaved dusty court to a band of blind musicians.

Adeste said: "Memories of a Race would basically show the traits that we Filipinos express in the simplest acts that we do, and I believe in those simple natural acts that we do, there lies the beauty of our ways as a race in its most touching moment. This beauty of our ways goes from the past to the present which echoes the past." - NMT