Filipino Global Artist

Passions Art Gallery presents Voyaging in Luminous Space, the new solo exhibition by renowned Global Filipino artist and Bicol’s pride, “Pancho Piano” opening on May 24th 2016.

The exhibition will run from May 24^th to June 5^th 2016. Opening reception starts at 6:00pm.

(Address: 4th Level 407 Sm MegaMall Building A, EDSA, corner J. Vargas Avenue, Mandaluyong City, 1552, Metro Manila)

Pancho Piano will be available for press interviews during the exhibit from May 24th; interested journalists please contact Pancho at panchopiano22@yahoo.com and +639175343238 to make an appointment.

In all these cosmic voyages, there appear certain references to landmarks and architectural structures, such as imposing city gates or church spires, along with symbolic elements. They are viewed as though from a distance or from the eagle’s eye view of the world. ~Alice Guillermo

Multifaceted award winning artist Pancho Piano creates art in variety of styles: stained glass art, abstraction and mural painting. Pancho creates energy and movement successfully interweaving modern and traditional styles. A faithful son of “Kabikulan,” he has paid homage, in his numerous paintings in oil and acrylic, to the myths, legends and traditions of Bicol, its indigenous deities such as “Haliya,” the moon goddess of abundance and fertility with her multiple breast, and “Daragang Magayon” in the folktale of ill-starred lovers, as well as mythologies of Albay province and gives special homage to the Bicolano devotion to the Lady Peñafrancia. Aside from his liturgical art, Pancho M. Piano is also a poet of Bicol Southern Tagalog Region.

Pancho M. Piano completed Bachelor’s Degree in Economics at the University of Nueva Caceres (1978) who also took a degree in Fine Arts at the University of the Philippines Diliman as a Jose Joya Scholar (1984-1987).

Pancho is the first Filipino artist to showcase Leather Art in the Philippines. He has conducted 30+ solo exhibitions, over 50+ group exhibitions, and participated in international exhibitions in Japan, Saipan, and the United States of America, France, Austria, the Federal Republic of Germany, Belgium, Italy, and Switzerland.

He has traveled extensively to the United States and Europe voyages opening for him new perspectives of space and the universe.

Pancho has won over numerous major national competitions in the Philippines, including Finalist at the 1997 “AFP Centennial Mural Painting Competition,” and the 1998 “AAP Centennial Painting Competition.” Pancho was awarded “Artist of the Year Awards” for the total of twelve times by various Bicol institutions. He was bestowed as “Most Outstanding Bicolano Artist” in 2009, “My City My SM Award” in 2010 and “Orgullo Kan Award for Visual Arts” in 2011. Pancho Piano was also featured in television networks such as ABS-CBN, and in 10 coffee table book publications.

Pancho will be exhibiting in London this coming July 2016. His subjects will be Philippines celebrations in abstract and figurative styles. Feel free to contact Pancho for more information.

“I went to The Louvre Museum in Paris in the early 1980’s and I fell in love with impressionist painting. Since then, the rest is history.”

Maria Cristina Valencia Taruc or “Tiinz” Taruc for short is a Filipina master painter whose art is fresh and modern. The vivid color she uses is bright and her brush stroke is loose and freely comes from her soul as described by local art critic Gigi Cortez Balmaceda.

The artist is famous for her impressionism paintings such as her sunflowers, koi fishes, landscapes, Mother and Child series and her social realism modern style portraits. Tiinz Taruc art is contemporary and is reminiscent of Georgia O’Keefe style flower paintings while her beautiful landscape paintings and the changing effects of light are evocative of Van Gogh and Monets.

Impressionist artists were characterized by their visual impact influenced by nature and love for the environment. Such artist sought to depict whatever they happened to see at a given moment by using pure, broken and often unmatched color to achieve an appearance of improvisation. They usually painted ordinary everyday subjects and omitted detail in their subjects to create a striking overall effect.

Born in Tarlac and is a granddaughter of the late Huk Supremo Luis Taruc, founder and leader of the Hukbo ng Bayan Laban sa mga Hapon (Hukbalahap or Huk) from 1942 to 1954, after he led an insurgency group fighting for land reform even earlier in the 1930’s. Tinz Taruc is an impressionist whose paintings have been inspired by Philippine patriotism and Hukbalahap stories, a trait she is believed to have inherited from her grandfather.

Balmaceda noted that Maria Cristina studied visual arts and graphic design at the Parsons School of Design in New York City and became “a prodigy of masters Rafael Maniago and Bienvenido Sibug in Los Angeles, and also learned from Aris C Bagtas of Marilao, Bulacan.”

Tiinz is a prolific painter and her paintings have given her hope and life. She added that art helps her deal with the love she lost and face reality with a positive outlook. She will be coming back to the Philippines from New York City and Los Angeles to have her 5th Art Exhibition in Pampanga in December 1, 2015 showcasing her “Mother & Daughter” series.

***A selection of Tiinz Taruc’s art masterpieces***

(pleas click image to enlarge)