ARTISTS per se, when asked why they do their stuff, would almost always reply in a rather nonchalant tone, “We do it for art’s sake.” And that sort of gives them a noble aura setting them apart from the hordes of mere mortals incapable of distinguishing Antipas Delotavo from a house painter or Eduardo Masferré from the person who takes your ID picture in the mall.
That is to be expected from a generation who grew up watching Eat Bulaga and other mindless noontime TV shows, not to mention the whole country being held hostage from Dec. 25 to Jan. 7 and forced to watch the usual trash pretending to be “indie films” during the annual Metro Manila Film Festival or MMFF.
Of course there’s that rather awkward topic not talked about in disente circles, “Paying rent and buying food.” This is probably why the term “starving artist” became such a cliché.
It is inevitable that a discerning audience will always appreciate art created by real talent and show that appreciation by purchasing the painting, photograph, sculptor or book hence most artists with real talent are not “starving”, rather comfortable and some well-off.
Meanwhile, we have this so-called artist who duct-taped a banana (you know, the fruit) to the wall of Art Basel, Miami and sold it for $120,000 but that’s another story.
And then there’s Ramil Gorrieza, born in Philippines but currently living in Cheshire, England. Firstly, he is not the Pinoy version of the Cheshire Cat, a fictional cat popularised by Lewis Carroll in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and known for its distinctive mischievous grin. Although when I first met him sometime last year over a glass of wine in Dova Brunch Café he had a mischievous grin (pun intended).
You may wonder why in the world are we talking about Ramil Gorrieza; he’s no politician, certainly not a rock star. But is he anything like Edgardo Lopez Suelo. Now you’re getting warm; they have a similarity, just different mediums.
Perhaps we’ll just let Ramil Gorriezadescribe himself:
I began to take photography seriously in 1995. My first camera was a Nikon FM2 which was a full manual camera. Subsequently, I upgraded to a F90X and F5 to take advantage of fast auto focusing and shooting. I started shooting with B&W, color and slide films. I took photography lessons with the Photographic Society of Singapore. On November 2000 I passed the APSS (Associate of the Photographic Society of Singapore) distinction exams. I also passed the ARPS (Associate of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain) distinction exams on Sept. 2001 using photographs taken from the Dinagyang Festival. I also possessed star ratings on travel and color prints with the Photographic Society of America.
So if Ilonggo resident artist Edgardo Lopez Suelo uses the canvas and acrylic to express his art, Ramil Gorriezauses the camera to express his. Yes, Ramil is an artist, a passionate one at that.
Why I love photography? Taking photos is like borrowing a moment in time that is just passing by and freezing it forever. Photographs always tell many stories.
Photography has been my passion; it has allowed me to express the color of my thoughts and the depth of my emotions.
Last 2019 Ramil was in town to borrow the moment that is the Dinagyang Festival and freeze it in photos forever. Chances are you might have seen him roaming around Calle Real with his cameras and lenses and probably just dismissed him for another obscure balikbayan tourist.
And we segue to the result of that passion and expression of his thoughts and emotions:
This weekend, Jan. 12, 2020 at the Festive Walk Mall will be the opening of the Dinagyang Festival Photo Exhibition organized by the Noble Shooters of Iloilo or NSI, the exhibit will run until January 31, 2020.
The photo exhibition organized by the Noble Shooters of Iloilo (NSI) is a charity event. All photos exhibited are for sale to anyone interested. And the money raised will be donated to the public school-based feeding program (SBFP) of the Dept of Education, Iloilo City.
The Photos exhibited were all taken from Dinagyang 2019. The size of the photos size is 12×18 inc. gloss and high quality. All photos were printed in the United Kingdom.
This charity event aims to raise money by selling all the photos on exhibit. This will help the School-Based Feeding Program of the Department of Education in the Philippines particularly in Iloilo City.
The program’s short history has seen moderate success to develop the learning capabilities of malnourished young children by improving their health and nutrition but as usual is affected by budget constraints hence we have this photo exhibit/fund raising charity event.
Sometimes it’s not just for art’s sake and profit or one’s ego but feeding the hungry schoolchildren. Bravo! (brotherlouie16@gmail.com/PN)
