Talented artists from the Province of Rizal are currently preparing for their four-man show exhibit at the famous Art Asia Gallery in SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City.
The B.R.A.D. Art Exhibit is Titled “Heart”, the four talented artists will showcase their new artworks and it will open on February 8-22, 2022.
Brando Limon Bati, Neptali “Rico” Aunzo, Adler Llagas, and Daniel Dumaguit were, first and foremost, artists who later became friends because of their trade.
Known to the artistic world as B.R.A.D. it was the owner of the famous restaurant in Silang, Cavite – Ric Gemora Hernandéz – who christened the group BRAD, an acronym of the artists’ first names: B for Brando; R for Rico; A for Adler; and D for Daniel. Their informal group was born during the group exhibition organized by the Daloy-Likha International Arts and Nature Society, Inc., international art and environmental organization based in Lucban, Quezon, in partnership with Ricardo’s Coffee + Classic Cuisine, before the establishment of its art gallery, now known as Ricardo’s Galeria Al Fresco, on May 1st to 16th, 2021.
Daniel DumaguitBrando Limon Bati’s Bamboo SeriesA landscape painting of Adler LlagasRico Aunzo’s Pedrong Masipag
During that time, executives from the clothing brand, Obra ni Juan were there who connected them to the management of ARTablado, an artistic space owned and managed by Robinsons Land. B.R.AD. was then formally introduced to the general public with their 4-man show titled “BANGON! Ikaw. Ako. Tayo”, which runs from October 16th to November 4th. This show, according to its organizers, aimed “to inspire people to get up, work together and reach for their dreams,” as the global pandemic hit everybody to their core.
According to B.R.A.D., the group wants to promote local tourism and also to accommodate and help other artists, new and mid-career, with their artistic careers. It was their vision to create not a formal group, but friendship and brotherhood among artists, helping one another to grow as artists and thrive with their careers. This having said, B.R.A.D. indeed is the appropriate name for the group for it carries with it the vision and noble mission of these artists, all hailing from Rizal Province. (Written by Noel Sales Barcelona)
In 2020, a watercolor painting of Neptalie “Rico” Aunzo was featured, together with the artworks of canonical names in Philippine art: works by National Artist Benedicto Cabrera (or BenCab), Betsy Westendorp, Justin Nuyda, Wig Tysmans, and Elmer Borlongan, in Siya Nga!—a notable book of reflections by Jesuit priest-astrophysicist, Fr. Jose Ramon T. Villarin—who was then president of Ateneo de Manila University. The volume was published by the De La Salle University Publishing House and the international edition of this book was released by Sussex Academic Press in 2021.
The Aunzo artwork in the book is a watercolor piece that is a Cubist-inspired work of Naïve art titled A Father’s Love. It’s a monochromatic representation of two not-too-small children though depicted in diminution and in dependence, held in the sheltering embrace of a father whose torso, arms, and hands are evidently exaggerated and assuredly protective.
And with A Father’s Love, the viewers of Aunzo’s art are ushered into the past, present, and future of the painter’s life-story. Aunzo would tell of how as a kid, he would be fascinated with drawing and was active in poster-making competitions while in high school. But soon after his secondary education, he knew that he could no longer afford to dwell on that “hobby” of creation no matter how deeply he felt then for this endeavor. His family needed him to be the breadwinner—that, he said, was loud and clear to him.
He continued: I grew up without a father. In fact, I’ve never met my father and never knew what he looks like. My mother said I inherited my interest in art making from my father, but that’s about the only thing of significance that I know about him. That’s why, since I gave up my work of many years in the telecom industry and decided to be a full time painter in 2018 when I was already 29, I couldn’t resist the compulsion to paint, again and again, images of my father. The bittersweet truth is—I first saw Father only when I started painting what I imagined him to be like. On paper and on canvas, I tried to figure out what it’s like to have a father, to be carried in his arms, and to grow up with him around.
Aunzo said, At some point, I realised I had to move on. Now that I’m a father myself, my biggest wish is to be the best dad to my children. And my biggest dream—to paint the kind of world that I’d like my kids to live in.
For Aunzo, that world is essentially a Home. It’s a place, a family where “ordinary” Filipinos—as the artist sees himself and the vast multitude who share his fate and also his dream—can be rooted and can possess, as Gabriel García Márquez puts it, “a second opportunity on earth.”
It’s a world filled with Pedrong Masipag (Peter the Diligent) and not Juan Tamad (John the Indolent), a character in Philippine folklore known for his laziness. It’s a world where the Pedrong Masipags from all walks of life (so to speak) are presented in Aunzo’s signature character style—angular or slightly distorted figures that appear idol-like, introspective, with long necks and portentous eyes that are shut. These characters, despite their Cubistically austere look, are however dressed uncannily in formal national dresses, the barong Tagalog. The characters are set, alongside their contextual planes, in strong and brash colors, applied with an apparent force of spontaneity. In Aunzo’s picture space—images, impressions, ideas, and emotions overlap in quite an evocative state of illogical proximity and magical naturalism. And in these dreamlike paintings, mystery and charm cradle a glow of buoyancy, and the mundane appear luminously “miraculous.”
It’s indelible that Aunzo’s art has drawn sustenance from a humble world, where the “little” people—the likes of the balut vendor, the farmer, the fishermen—their fateful existence in a socially circumscribed space notwithstanding, are simply not afraid to take on big dreams, for the sake of Home—with a familial mindset and in familial setups beyond their own.
With a picture space that is interestingly marked by intersections of influences—from Cubism (in its interweaving of planes and lines), Fauvism (in its display of bright palette and fierce brushwork), Naïve Art (in its childlike easiness and a simplified perspective), Surrealism (in its occasioning of the uncanny), as well as from the artistic paths blazed by Filipino National Artists Vicente Manansala, Carlos “Botong” Francisco, Ang Kiukok, and Benedicto Cabrera (BenCab), also by Mauro Malang Santos and Lydia Velasco—the self-taught artist Neptali Aunzo has in fact welded a personal style. It’s a style that has remained true to where his memories are rooted and where his dreams take flight. It’s a place where Pedrong Masipag creates and recreates a Home, just as he once did…and the first time he saw Father.
For a closer look at Aunzo’s life/art-narrative, readers are invited to check out the article, “Neptalie Aunzo Paints…and the First Time He Saw Father,” which has been published in the January 2022 issue of the prestigious Art Plus magazine.
(The Note on the Artist is written by David Jonathan Y. Bayot—an academic publisher, a literary critic, an art collector, and the Go Kim Pah Professorial Chair Holder of the Liberal Arts at De La Salle University where he is, currently, the Executive Publisher of its university press.)
Inauguration in Lecce of the prestigious gallery-museum, the flagship of Southern Italy
The Art&Co Galleries on 11 December 2021, from 05:00 p.m., with H.E. The Metropolitan Archbishop of Lecce Monsignor Michele Seccia, inaugurated the headquarters of the PALACE OF ARTS in Lecce, in via 47 ° Regiment of Infantry n. 21, with a Gala reserved for collectors and Authorities.
GARUDA – Rabarama – ART&CO
On 12 December 2021, from 06:00 p.m., the doors of the magnificent gallery-museum will finally open to the public for the fabulous Party Art & Co.
Over a century of works of art by the undisputed masters of the international scene on display in Lecce until January 29, 2022.
At the prestigious PALACE OF ARTS, in the heart of the enchanting Southern Baroque city, cradle full of millenary culture, Modern Art and Contemporary Art meet in an unprecedented riot of colors, shades, lights and shadows.
Prince Miškin, in the novel Dostoevsky’sIdiot stated: “Beauty will save the world”. And the Art&Co Galleries, which are inspired by art as a unique and absolute universal beauty, with the inaugurations of 11 and 12 December, in collaboration with Spirale Milano, have decided to celebrate 25 years of activity with an exhibition that can tell, in an exhaustive way, a unique and extraordinary journey, created with a solid look at the past and a careful scouting towards the present and the future of works that have made audiences from all over the globe dream.
Owner of Art&Co Gallerie with Simone Viola, the entrepreneur Tiziano Giurin, has been working in the field of art for almost thirty years. His careful gaze has always highlighted the difference between North and South in the artistic field. And it was from a visionary idea that the project was born to link the entire peninsula with a common thread through art. He, a dreamer who never gave up, brings a breath of ancient seventeenth-century splendor back to the Apulian capital. The Lecce stones of the historic center light up for the inaugural evening of the Palazzo delle Arti, while one hundred works on display by modern and contemporary artists are shown to the public in all their variegated beauty. A 360 ° exhibition of the artistic-cultural range that has characterized more than a century of the history of cosmopolitan art. Five years, therefore, thanks to Art & Co, for the whole of the South of our beautiful Italy, confirming that art has no borders or frontiers.
Two sections of the exhibition will have the task of investigating as many historical moments: the first dedicated to Nuoveaux realisme with unpublished and museum works by Fernandez Arman and Mimmo Rotella, the second to the Piazza del Popolo movement with works by Franco Angeli, Tano Festa, Giosetta Fioroni and Mario Schifano. A “museum” section will be dedicated to the Master of Pop Art Andy Warhol.
Further sections of the exhibition will broaden the gaze on important modern artists, such as Carla Accardi, Giorgio De Chirico, Lucio Fontana, Mario Schifano, Emilio Vedova and on numerous protagonists of the painting of our time, such as Giuseppe Amadio, Marco Catellani, Ottavio Celestino, Paolo de Cuarto , Francesco De Filippi, Antonio Durante, Deborah Gardella, Emanuele Giannelli, Marco Lodola, Antonio Longo, Barbara Nati, Ugo Nespolo, Lucio del Pezzo, Maddalena Saponara, Antonio Sirtori, Andrea Terenziani, Roberto Tondi, Giulio Turcato, Alessandro Valeri and Mr Wany.
The talented multifaceted artist Rabarama has created unique works specifically for this exhibition: sculptures of bodies that enclose the soul, a precious casket of man and his essence. And in such a vast panorama of the evolution of art, the monographic section could not be missing with prominent names such as the master Cesare Berlingeri and the international artist Simone D’Auria (exclusively with Art & Co for Italy), whose works come from Art Basel Miami.
Through programmed itineraries, created through institutional exhibitions, catalogue raisonnes and national and international trade fairs, Art&Co has led its artists to an exponential growth in the artistic scenario of the last five decades. The cultural mission of Art&Co is to bring art ever closer to its own public, creating real cultural salons in the beating hearts of our cities (Milan, Parma, Lecce).
Press Office Iolanda Pomposelli For You Communication Phone: +39 347 8759960 E-mail: iolandapomposelli@yahoo.it E-mail: pressoffice@foryoucommunication.com
Yulia Mkrtchyan (pen name Yulia Djannaya) is a Moscow based artist, painter, and lawyer. She is a member of Eurasian Art Union. In December 2018 her painting “Path to God” was awarded the First Prize at the remote International Festival and Competition “Blue Bird” in the category of Fine Arts. She was also a winner of the first-degree nomination in the Fine Arts category for performing and providing work for Picasso’s House at the 12th All-Russian Competition “Talents of Russia” held on 07.01.2021 in FMVDK format.
Yulia Djannaya started exhibition performances in 2019. Here is the list of her exhibitions:
September-November 2019, Exhibition at the “Want & Paint” Gallery
December 2019, “Reimagine It” Exhibition at the Ti Art Gallery.
December 2019 – January 2020, “Animal Farm or Oil and Water Don’t Mix” Exhibition at the Ti Art Gallery.
February 2020
“Alternative Reality” Contemporary Art Exhibition at the Art Future Gallery
Exhibition at the “Want & Paint” Gallery
Participant of the “I am the Art Future” project at the Art Future Gallery
Organizer of the “Space Inside” project at the Art Future Gallery
03-07 March 2020 – Abstract Art Festival participant at the Exhibition Centre of the Saint Petersburg Union of Artists.
2020 – Participant and 3rd prize winner at the International Festival of Symbolic Art “Dzen Art”
2020 – KRYUKRINOKSI exhibition participant at “Here in Taganka” Gallery (organized by A. Bartenev)
2020 – Art Patrol on Carantin in Omelchenko Gallery
2021 – Russian Art Prize finalist
2020 – Second Life art project winner
2021 – Super Mom prize partner
2021 – New Life project Art Designer
2021 – The Forbidden Fruit exhibition participant organized in Miami within the Lady of the World project frames
Yulia Djannaya runs her own On-Line gallery based on the Intellectual Marketing Platform.
Can you tell us your journey as an artist?
In December 2018, I took a paintbrush for the very first time in my life. This started a completely new page in my life. My paintings have so many inspirations and influences, such as my mood, feelings, desires, emotions, scents, dreams and so on. My endless imagination and great personality don’t let me give up oeuvre. I see all that surrounds me in colors that are reflected on my paintings. I developed my unique style which is a transition between pop-art and modern art. The blend of my style and color palette makes my paintings extraordinary but most importantly, they are recognizable among other paintings.