Photo exhibit shows Baguio back on track after ‘Pepeng’

December 1, 2009 | By admin |

TUBA, Benguet - The pulling out of this year’s Advertising Congress in Baguio City did not deter four of the country’s top photographers from showcasing some of their works in an exhibit dubbed Optical Medium.

“This was originally part of the Advertising Congress. Unfortunately the typhoons came and the Ad Congress was pulled out of Baguio City,” explains National Artist Ben Cabrera, who joins veterans Bien Bautista, Wig Tysmans, and Jaime Zobel in the exhibit.

“All the more that we need an exhibit like this to send the message that Baguio is back to normal,” explains Cabrera, when postponement of the exhibit’s opening was thought of following the pullout of the Ad Congress.

However, the exhibit opened as planned on November 17, a day before the opening of the Advertising Congress in Subic.

The exhibit’s opening pushed through without much pomp, with no ribbons cut and no speeches made. Only Bautista and Cabrera were present along with some family members and friends.

Bencab’s works on display reveal the maestro’s versatility with his media. For Optical Medium, Cabrera used digital painting as finishing touches to facial close-ups of his subjects.

Veterans Bien Bautista and Wig Tysmans each rendered the human body in its intense, natural forms—Bautista’s set of passionate, emotion-filled nudes, and Tysmans’ Wrap-ture series with his nude silhouettes rendered in monochrome.

Art photographer Jaime Zobel’s pieces include the master’s signature abstracts rendered in full color. All in all, the four-man exhibit contains 28 pieces, some printed on wood and others on archival watercolor paper.

“This is our contribution to Baguio and the Cordilleras after the recent typhoons. I hope that people will come to Baguio to see the exhibit,” says Cabrera.

Optical Medium runs until January 3, 2010 at the BenCab Museum located along Km. 6, Asin Road, Tuba, Benguet. The museum is open daily from 9 AM to 6 PM except Mondays, on Christmas Day, and on New Year’s Day. For more information, visit www.bencabmuseum.org. - KBK, GMANews.TV