Like father like children

FOLLOWING in their father’s footsteps as a painter, siblings Herzon and Rhea dela Rosa are keeping the artistic tradition of their family alive.

The painting dela Rosas are from Manila. Inspired, influenced and trained in part by their famous painter dad, Ibarra dela Rosa, the tandem of Herzon and Rhea are staging shows all over the country.

Click here for stories and updates on the Sinulog 2010 Festival.

This time until mid-February, the siblings are showing a significant body of works in painting at the Waterfront Hotel and Casino in Lahug.

Herzon, though partly tutored by Ibarra, has a master’s degree in painting from University of the Philippines.

Rhea, on the other hand, was exposed to art early via the works of her father. She also studied fine arts, majoring in advertising, at Far Eastern University. The lady painter has the typical feminine flavor in style. She’s very painterly in strokes while her chosen subjects are quite restricted to floral paintings.

The gentleman, as expected, tends to paint masculine subjects, like muscular figures that are full in volume and form. He combines modes of realism and abstraction in many of his works.

But basically, Herzon is a realist because his subjects are done realistically while his expressionist non-objective art happens only as a backdrop.

This means that he gives more importance to realism than abstraction. Manila art is very different in approach compared to the art of Cebu.

Art forms from the capital city tend to utilize an entire palette of colors and are made more decorative. The Cebuano painting character, however, is quite limited in color scheming because it stays true to natural hues. There are other more things to learn in viewing art by those outside of Cebu. So it is now up to you to check it out.