BEAUTY is in the eye of the beholder, and finding that beauty is the work of the heart.

There’s something in mundane things that somehow only artists can find in them some extraordinary qualities.

The typical still life painting is an interpretation of tabletop compositions using inanimate objects that are often household things and accents.

Sun.Star accepts donations for victims of Typhoon Ondoy

These common and ordinary objects are then arranged to their desired positions by the artist. Oftentimes it will include drapery that blankets a table. Once these things are in place, the painting can commence.

At the commemorative art exhibit by members of the Cebu Artists Inc. (CAI) last month, the artists tended to do basic art again while at the same time elevate the ordinariness of a still life painting to a higher level.

The show was a kind of looking back and finding root and origins. To many artists, doing still life paintings is a way to practice and start learning how to paint.

CAI celebrated the group’s 15th anniversary with a show of still life painting aptly entitled “Simply CAI @ 15” at the SM Art Center. Participating artists were led by Celso Pepito. The other artists included Lurline Rodriquez, Sonia Yrastorza, Jun Impas, John Dinglasa, Antonio Vidal, Benji Goyha, Jobril Villaver, Fe Madrid Pepito, Guido Lubanga, this writer, Jason Dy and Cesar Castillo.

The group set the gallery walls ablaze with festive colors and rich harvest of new works featuring modern approaches in doing still life. Ordinary and familiar objects have always been taken for granted and that’s exactly what the exhibition wanted to change.

It invited viewers to take a second look. Here’s looking at you, Still Life.