A Day of Art and Culture

Yesterday, having nothing better to do, I ventured out of my normal schedule and went to our university museum. There I was witness to some inspiring sketches and paintings which pushed me to once again pursue my artistic capacities. I haven't been sketching for some time now and deem it necessary for me to pick up a decent pencil and once again begin etching into paper my unresolved issues. There were particular works of art which have captured my interest an thus impelled me to pen down their titles and creators.

To quote Manuel Baldemor, "You can say I paint poetry.", I believe that those words does hold water. For poetry is subject to personal interpretations, and that style defines it apart from prose. Poetry is a world of its own, wherein their is no abject meaning nor limitation to the possibilities that a single word could possess.

Among the many paintings displayed, I did pay a bit more attention to Manuel Rodriguez' Magsosorbetes. Its a mixed media painting, which did the images justice with its subtle warm sunny day colors and its professional touch of texture. There were also pieces of palette art from the collection of two couples. Kiko Escora's The Kiss and Emmanuel Garibay's Pagkamulat, with their very rich tones have easily made me take more than a second glance at them. I am not intending to make this entry into a reaction paper, but the use of such bold hues in contrast to fleshy and gray colors which the humans exhibit give it more life than I could imagine. In The Kiss, I see much passion especially in the intertwining of the two's fingers, without notice of who is female or male, both characters are androgenous and that perhaps lends nicely that love transcends one's gender. Gender often, in my opinion, defines one's place in the relationship, in that particular painting, the couple were somehow of equal, but representing life (flesh) and death (grayish).

I also paid much notice to Hermes Alegre's Bikolana. A beautiful creation in my opinion, despite its all too realistic approach. The woman in the center with a miniature volcano in the backdrop. The colors were primarily earthy and the woman blends in most perfectly with her surroundings. An image of innocence and purity, of pristine untouched beauty as the background she is set against.

In total, I did enjoy my stay in the museum and hope that next term, more promising creations would be displayed, for there are circumstances where there are paintings which I fail to relate well to. Mixtures of red and black, although most appealing to my state of mind does tend to turn boring with its seemingly stagnant representations to my thoughts. Should there me more creations that challenge my interpretations and thoughts, then I'd welcome them wholeheartedly.

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Yesterday's break was also spent in the company of culture, art and civility as I perused further into Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. I daresay that I symphatize greatly with the downfall of the Linton family as soon as the curse of Heathcliff fell upon them. It seems that both Earnshaws and Lintons were destined to misfortune and loss of love. There was no moment of true peace, nor a time of faithful reciprocation of love and charity. Revenge seems to have been a prominent feature of the novel, which is neither complicated nor unfathomable, it was a simple play of human behaviors which are somehow predictable due to their natures. The beauty of its simplicity is what draws me in reading it, as well as the unfulfilled love affair between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff which ended both tragically and romantically that I could not find any words to completely articulate the depths of their love for each other - that at times I find myself jealous of their romance, but pity their ill-fate.