His Art, Our Heart

Quezon City has very good museums. They may not be as enormous as those found on other parts of the world, but they do provide interesting collections. The other day, I visited the Vargas Museum to look at some of the works of the country's first National Artist, Fernando Cueto Amorsolo (1892-1972). The exhibit, entitled Capturing Anxieties: Amorsolo, His Contemporaries and Pictures of the War, is part of a four month, multi venue exposition of his works collectively called His Art, Our Heart.

I must admit that I only think of paintings of idyllic landscapes (just like the photo I posted here - Rice Planting, 1943, oil on canvas) and portraits whenever his name is mentioned, the Vargas Museum exhibit showased his works depicting the Philippines as a wartorn nation, under the Japanese during the second world war.

What's your story?

Magaling magkwento ang mga Pinoy.
Manuod ng mga kakaibang istorya ng pangkarinawang buhay
na pupukaw sa isip at damdamin.
Ano'ng kwento mo?

On its fourth year, Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival will be showcasing ten full-length and ten short films. Roxyfoxy and Parisianinpinas went with me yesterday to CCP to catch 100 by writer and director Chris Martinez. It is a story of a "stern, uptight and exacting woman with a terminal illness who tries to accomplish a list of 100 things to do before she dies." Sure, the story is nothing original but what I really liked was that it was told in a very light manner. You don't leave the movie house with a heavy heart but with a new outlook towards life.

At the ground floor was a little exhibit. And in there, one thing immediately caught my attention. In this day and age of flat/LCD/plasma TV screens I find that bulky red box strangely comforting. Childhood reminder of afternoon entertainment.