MANILA, Philippines - “I want to help budding artists that don’t have a venue for their paintings,“ Manny Valera said during the recent grand opening of his RAVE Art Gallery.
“After being an art collector for many years, opening my own gallery is a dream come true,” Valera, an art lover since the ‘80s, adds.
Direk Manny says he got the idea of forming his own art gallery from a friend. He was able to collect art pieces from over 50 artists, including Federico Alcuaz, Onib Olmedo, Mike Austria, Jose Joya, Gig de Pio, Ibarra Delarosa, Jun Tiongco, Remy Boquiren, Fernando Sena, Jose Hombrebueno, Al Perez, Emmanuel Garibay, Lito Barcelona, Nik Masangcay, Menchu Arandilla, Armida Francisco, Roland Santos, among others.
The grand opening was attended by showbiz personalities and fellow art lovers. Among the early birds were Mother Lily Monteverde and director Joel Lamangan.
RAVE Art Gallery is located at Scout Magbanua cor. Roces Ave., Quezon City. It is open Mondays to Saturdays.
For details, call 374-1361 or 415-0373, or e-mail raveartgallery@yahoo.com. — Text and photos by Ver Paulino