Cindy Sightsees

CEBU, Philippines - It is a hot, muggy night, and outside, showers of rain fall sporadically on well-wishers. Despite the weather, a big art-loving crowd nevertheless mills outside Orange Gallery, Bacolod’s premier center for budding artists, as fans expectantly await yet another exciting opening.  There are four different artists exhibiting in three galleries tonight, and the excitement builds to a fever pitch as Bacolod’s big guns (Charlie Co, Nune Alvarado, and Dennis Ascalon, to name a few) start arriving.

Inside, Cindy Ballesteros puts the finishing touches to her collection.  Aside from her works (miniature slices of life revolving around the theme Travellers and Wanderers), she has also collaborated with two other artists on a single work occupying the foreground.  It is a mock up of not unexpectedly, a lone traveller, facing a fiery red narrow bridge arching all the way up to the ceiling.  As it touches the highest point in the gallery, the bridge morphs into something akin to confetti or buntings, streaming down on gallery visitors.

The diorama is an apt allusion to the experience awaiting the audience.  Once they step inside and view the works of art awaiting them, they can expect to be taken on an uplifting journey, and then released unto wonder. Cindy’s works are whimsical, transporting the eye unto ethereal realms, teasing the imagination with improbable concepts, and combining color and composition within canvasses of exciting panache.  The end point of this journey, hopefully, will be enlightenment, or at the very least, some form of receptivity to new ideas and artistic visions.

Take for example, her work entitled “Road Trip,” which depicts two different automobiles taking a joy ride through the sugarcane fields so endemic to Bacolod City.  The passengers are care-free, but it makes one wonder why Cindy would present two different vehicles travelling at the same pace in one canvass.  Perhaps, to suggest that while the road is the same, the destinations of these passengers will ultimately be different? 

There is also “Slayer,” where a winsome lass attempts to catch what, at first glance, are butterflies. Upon a closer look, however, we are pleasantly surprised to see that these fluttering objects are instead human lips, bestowed with wings.  It is a hilarious interpretation of a woman in the market for love, and the quest for what is hopefully a life partner.  Again, another reference to the trips one has to take in this crazy life of ours.

“Air Gliders” is yet another notable piece, where seemingly advanced space ships fly their way through the stratosphere.  But these ships are not the usual futuristic metallic iridium alloy whatnot we have come to expect of such space-faring vessels – the bottom halves look like coconut shells, and palm fronds serve as verdant wings. 

All in all, the collection is a humorous take on life’s journeys.  One therefore hopes it will not be Cindy’s last, and that she herself takes those arduous steps necessary towards fulfilling her great potential.  

Of course, this is not the first for the self-taught Cindy.  Cindy has participated in previous exhibits, including Koloryakot and Nature vs. Nurture at Gallery Orange in 2010 and Facets at Museo Negrense de La Salle in 2009.  Indeed, as she shyly fields questions from reporters from both ABS-CBN and GMA News, the road ahead for Cindy’s future artistic success looks to be a clear and bump-free ride. (FREEMAN)