• CHRYSEE G. SAMILLANO
Bacolod visual artist Rolando Inso is holding an ongoing solo art exhibition at the Negros Press Club building along San Juan Street, Bacolod City, which is scheduled to run until October.
Inso said he started his painting career in 1980 in Manila, doing portraiture which he learned from Sammy Ringor, a Fine Arts graduate of Ateneo de Manila University. But he later became independent and moved to Midland Plaza after Ringor left for Saudi Arabia to pursue his painting career.
In 1991, he returned to Bacolod City where he became a member of the Art Association of Bacolod (AAB). His colleagues then were the late portraitist Lor Sumagaysay whose style is similar to national artist Fernando Amorsolo.
He later moved to Bohol in 2008 where he was able to put up Inso Art Gallery at the City Square Mall in Tagbilaran City. During his three years stay in the city, he was able to earn well through portraiture for foreign tourists, aside from selling his artwork.
Inso said he returned to Bacolod City in 2010 after his art gallery in Tagbilaran closed. He continued his painting career in Bacolod City that gained him new customers locally and in Manila.
His painting style is also similar to Amorsolo, his favorite Filipino artist, whose brush strokes are difficult to imitate, he said.
He has rendered portraits of local politicians like Bacolod Rep. Greg Gasataya and Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, including that of former mayor Monico Puentevella, which is on display at the lobby of the Bacolod City Government Center.
Inso said he uses oil or acrylic as his medium and that many of his artworks have themes about farmworkers or “karga-tapas,” which is popularly in demand.*
