BY CHRYSEE G. SAMILLANO
A former ANC news anchor turned painter is holding her first solo exhibit in Bacolod City, also her first outside Manila, at Charlie’s Art Gallery at Italia Restaurant in Bacolod City which will run from May 4 to June 4.
Titled “Repetitio: Bacolod”, the show features derivative paintings of national artist Fernando Amorsolo that Celeste Lecaroz rendered in spontaneous realism.
Lecaroz said this is her eight solo exhibit since she started painting professionally in 2016. Part of the proceeds of the show will go to the Fernando C. Amorsolo Art Foundation.
Her paintings are officially licensed by the foundation and are derived from official copies of Amorsolo paintings cataloged in the books it had published.
Lecaroz said she is happy, honored and privileged to be holding an exhibit at Italia Restaurant in Bacolod. However, this may be her last series of Amorsolo paintings since she will be coming up with her next show that will feature nature series on birds being a bird enthusiast.
She recalled being a fulltime housewife for so many years before she became a painter and involved herself in reading program for children. She put up a library in Quezon City and eventually got into coloring books, she said.
“That was a time I was a little depressed. Maybe I was trying to find my worth as a woman because my kids have already grown-up and I had no career,” Lecaroz said.
She cannot go back to ANC because it had been many years since she left, she said until she found a group of women who liked to color coloring books. And from there, she was tapped to present for Faber-Castell to do workshops and presentations for the company. And for some reason, she found herself painting.
Lecaroz believes that art is for all so she endeavors to make her art accessible. She places them on permanent display in public institutions; she designs wearable art such as scarves and shoes; and has her paintings beautifully compiles in monographs and giclee prints.
The artists hails from the De Villa, Lecaroz, Salud and Malabanan clans of San Juan, Batangas and Marinduque.*
