ILOILO City – Art museums and galleries are not just repositories of artifacts and paintings — they are sanctuaries where passion, emotion, and imagination converge, inspiring both creators and admirers to see the world through a more meaningful lens.
For 25-year-old content creator and painter Rhea Marielen Teodoro, visiting museums is a ritual of learning and reflection.
“Since I’ve been doing arts, I have found myself looking for museums to visit to accumulate my ideas, my knowledge, and my techniques from those well-known artists of our country and even those emerging artists whose masterpieces are worth being seen by the world,” she said.
Teodoro, who began painting to express her emotions, describes museums as “antique jars of history” — sacred spaces that preserve not only art but also the stories and identities of humankind.
“Art is therapeutic, healing inner wounds and giving voice when silenced,” she added.
Similarly, Geneco Mabasa, a 29-year-old freelance painter from Antique, sees art as his personal refuge.
“For me Art or Painting is a Querencia, a place where a painter feels most of himself and finds real freedom. It is a sanctuary of memories and visions,” he said.
After leaving his job, Mabasa turned his hobby into a livelihood by accepting painting commissions and photography gigs. He dreams of visiting the National Museum one day to explore more deeply the nation’s artistic legacy.
Both artists have showcased their works in exhibitions — Teodoro through Studio Mano, Art Show Philippines, and a recent display in Makati City; and Mabasa through galleries in Tagaytay, Antique, and other regional exhibits. These experiences, they say, reaffirm that art connects creators and viewers alike in a shared human story.
“Art is a lifestream and a bloodline of the soul. It revives the dying. It amuses the lonely. It rehomes those who are lost. It gives purpose,” Teodoro shared. “Art is not just about creating. It is more entirely about expressing,” Mabasa added.
As the country celebrates Museums and Galleries Month, both artists emphasize that museums serve as meeting grounds for creativity and culture — where the public can rediscover not only history but also themselves.
“Once you get to love the meaning of art, you will never turn your back away and you’ll live that way,” said Teodoro.
For Mabasa, the mission of art spaces remains timeless: “Because of galleries, new visual artists emerge. These are channels for promoting culture and tradition — and for opening the public’s mind to the real meaning of visual arts.”/PN
