Tuesday, March 18, 2008 Far and away By Ritchie Landis Doner Quijano
IT’S good to know that the young are showing concern for our social conditions. Artists in particular do not close their eyes to this reality and pretend they are blind.
In the tradition of social realism movement (i.e. where visual perception is geared to open the “Venetian blinds” and expose the ills of society), a young man from the University of San Carlos focuses on the plight of Filipino overseas workers as the main content in his paintings.
Gil Balbuena is a fine arts student, graduating and about to enter and experience the nitty-gritty reality of the real world. No doubt, he is well-prepared for it because early at this stage as a student he seems to have a good grasp and discernment on the issues that hound society.
Balbuena is a social realist following the footsteps of artists whose art have fought tyranny in times of oppression like in the seventies.
The paintings he makes are representational in genre. It is a convenient choice when one wants to tell a story in pictures.
Here’s hoping that as he matures, Balbuena will continue to shed more light on what it is like for Filipinos to be working away from home.
