In UP school in the 60s, Fred Liongoren was one of the more talented students at the Fine Arts wing of the College (CAFA). Today he is a highly acclaimed artist with twenty one-man shows under his belt. On December 9, Fred held his latest art exhibit at Gallery Jose in Marikina. Gallery Jose as we know is owned and operated by Alice Jose also from the CAFA.
The exhibit was like a reunion for the CAFA stalwarts. Alice Jose was the gracious hostess for the many guests. Cecille Ascalon, Pearl Ortega, Cat Bello, Adi Santos, Jess Abrera, Nic Ricio, Bong Bongalon, Beng Galla, Boy Valino, Boy de Villa and others were the CAFA Fine Arts contemporaries of Fred who graced the occasion. Vic Ortega and Oni Mayo represented the 60s CAFA Architecture class. The guest of honor was ex-Marikina Mayor Marides Fernando who cut the ribbon and later mixed with the crowd. Of course, Norma Liongoren, Fred’s doting wife, was there to help entertain the visitors.
Fred was distinctive with his beard and pigtail. Being UP-trained and especially coming from the exciting period of the 60s, Fred continues to play the social activist role which he reflects in his art. Fred was into abstracts in the 70s, but Fred found out that he couldn’t quite touch the masses with abstracts. Thus his work today is more into realism especially for his water color art. Fred feels that his more realistic (less abstract?) portrayal of social experiences, still life and allegorical subjects would be a better platform for his reformist statements.
With all his success, Fred is not done with his experimentations. He confided that he plans to venture into comics since comic books capture the fancy of the young. With his artistic passion, I have no doubt that Fred will produce wonderful quality comic books shortly. The exhibit program that day officially began with a moving dramatic mime by Fred that showed his concern for the continued suffering of Pinoys. During the night, the pica-pica was well-served and like most CAFA affairs, the gathering of UP CAFA guys made for an entertaining night.
Alice and her CAFA friends who organized this exhibit are known as the Studiomates. They have been engaged in painting sessions among themselves for several years now and have ventured into hosting of exhibits. I understand that this show of Fred Liongoren is their third exhibit over a year’s time. The Studiomates expect to host another art show come February 2011.
During the show, Cecille Ascalon of the Studiomates actually won the prize raffled out by Fred. She won a watercolor painting of a ‘vessel’ that Fred said was symbolic of the theme of the exhibit that night. We are especially happy for Cecille and glad that she is up and about again. Finally, my thanks to Cat Bello for the photography of the event. Coming to the exhibit, I had left my camera and the photos in this Blog are from Cat.
Click the link for more photo's
http://s1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd489/leonmayo1/Liongerin%20Exhibit/?albumview=slideshow
.jpg)
