"Hulagway sa Katilingban"

CEBU, Philippines - There's always been a Hemingway-esque appeal in the representational painting form - a quality that steers clear from flirtations with the ground rules of process-oriented oeuvres; embracing beauty as it is filtered through one's naked sense of sight.

This endearing aspect of one of the world's oldest artistic styles is the binding factor that convenes "Hulagway sa Katilingban" (Portraits of Society) - the first art exhibit of the Cebu-founded Portrait Artists Society of the Philippines Inc. for 2015.

Opening on January 20 and ongoing until tomorrow, February 2, at the Art Center of SM City Cebu, the exhibit brings together more than 50 works by the members of the group - both its well-known artist-members and their apprentices.

As a show that fetes a revue of representational paintings and portraits, the Italian chiaroscuro technique is given significant breadth and dimension in the exhibit - alluding to just how much the Cebuano artists have mastered the painting technique.

Thematically, the show takes a step back from the "burgis" connotations that have been associated with formally commissioned portraits - unabashedly heralding that such paintings are not solely intended for society's crème de la crème by focusing on the common "tao" as subjects.

From narrative paintings depicting rural and urban life scenes to portraits that frame life as it is rendered in the truest of lights, the show stands by the core values of the Portrait Artists Society of the Philippines as an organization - as its presentation bares the true bravado inherent in portraiture and representational artpieces.