00:00 This Filipina visual artist ends her hiatus by bringing tranquility and light to the canvas.
00:07 These works can be seen in Marivic Rufino's "Sintilya" dreamscapes exhibit opening tomorrow.
00:14 Let's learn more from the artist herself. She joins us in the studio. Marivic, great to have you with us.
00:21 Thank you for inviting me, Rico.
00:23 Wow, 2023 is your 19th solo exhibit and your 18th was in 2016. There has been a long gap from 2016 to 2023.
00:35 What has been the feeling like?
00:37 I was painting in between but I wasn't exhibiting in a solo.
00:43 There were family issues that I had to handle, health, and then the pandemic came so I lost three siblings.
00:53 In this exhibit, my deepest condolences, three siblings over that period.
00:59 In this 19th solo exhibit, you have 23 paintings and 5 soft arts.
01:04 What are your inspirations in putting these body of works together?
01:10 From the very beginning, I've always loved nature.
01:13 I get inspiration from light, from the sky, from the sea, from everything cool and refreshing around me.
01:23 We're trapped in an urban jungle.
01:26 My escape is going to the beach or to the mountains.
01:31 Why did you decide to name this 19th solo exhibit as "Sintilya"?
01:37 Actually, I was looking for a word because I usually have transcendence or luminescence and then dreamscapes.
01:44 I asked my poet friend, Marnie Quilates, we had done a book together with national artist, Rio Almario, called "Romanza", his short poems.
01:53 I asked him, "Can you help me find the word that would suit my comeback?"
01:58 He said, "Sintilya, if you like. It's a spark."
02:01 That's the spark that lit up everything.
02:04 Coming out of the darkness, I think, this exhibit is like a renaissance of sorts.
02:12 It's a comeback from 2016.
02:15 How different were your works from 2016 all the way to 2023?
02:21 As we went through a pandemic, which basically stopped many of our lives over the past three and a half years.
02:33 It was difficult to paint, but painting is my form of meditation and prayer.
02:40 When that happens, I'm guided by the divine artist. I'm just an instrument.
02:45 When it comes, sometimes I'm surprised at what I paint.
02:49 When I look at it the next morning, I said, "I did that?"
02:52 It's like I must have been in a trance.
02:54 I can't take credit for all of it, but there's that divine inspiration that comes through.
03:00 These 28 new works were painted, were created over how many years?
03:07 Okay. Good question.
03:10 I have some works here that had started in the '90s.
03:14 Then I completed them during this period.
03:18 I started them but left them.
03:21 You set them aside.
03:22 Yes.
03:23 You created other works.
03:24 Other works, yeah. Then I would go back and forth, back and forth.
03:27 This would show a range of my style from the late '80s, I think, early '90s, all the way to now.
03:37 It became more and more distilled.
03:39 They're like visual poems.
03:41 They're short. They're small.
03:43 You read into them.
03:45 There's that sense of spirituality.
03:47 They're not, as you say, striking.
03:50 They're more subtle.
03:52 I can see from your body of works impressionism.
03:56 Yes, very much.
03:57 Abstract.
03:58 Yes.
03:59 Also, figurative works.
04:01 It's an eclectic mix of styles through decades of art genre.
04:11 Because you started painting and you had your first exhibit in 1987.
04:17 But before that, you were already joining a lot of group exhibitions since 1976.
04:22 Yes, I was doing Chinese painting with Professor How Chok.
04:25 That's 10 years of that discipline.
04:27 It's very rigid.
04:28 But it was a contemporary Chinese painting.
04:31 Then that one evolved.
04:33 Then I took up a few lessons with a mentor, Jonas Alboza, who taught me Western Watercolor from UP.
04:42 He just showed me how to transition.
04:46 Later on, I blended now the two styles, the East and the West.
04:50 Here we are.
04:52 I keep experimenting slowly.
04:55 You see yourself still continuing to grow, experimenting and growing in the visual arts.
05:01 It never ends.
05:03 No, I think it's a lifelong journey, this artistic journey of mine.
05:07 It's a vocation.
05:09 It's a mission.
05:10 I use my art to help others.
05:13 It's not just self-expression, but I'm helping abused kids.
05:17 I've been doing that for 30 years.
05:19 My exhibits usually help my beneficiaries.
05:23 We have the Marian Missionaries of the Philippines who help abused kids and also the Child Protection Network.
05:30 You have this advocacy for abused children.
05:33 Yes.
05:34 But apart from that, Marivec, you also do a lot of other things.
05:38 You're a tireless world traveler.
05:41 You're also an opinion columnist, an author, arts and culture believer, private consultant.
05:48 When do you really find the time to paint?
05:52 I try.
05:53 I try to paint late at night, usually late at night, sometimes early in the morning.
05:58 But then I burn out also and I overdo it.
06:01 I do volunteer work for Red Cross.
06:04 That's the main thing now.
06:06 I've been doing that since 2007.
06:09 So you really need a lot of time management with all of your responsibilities.
06:13 That's why there are times that I'll set things aside.
06:16 So I have to compartmentalize what I'm doing, even myself.
06:21 Yes, time for yourself as well.
06:23 It's not all about traveling, writing, but you also need time for yourself, right?
06:31 Sometimes the quiet time comes before I paint or when I'm painting.
06:35 I can't be disturbed.
06:37 I'm just absolutely quiet.
06:39 But you use a very sensitive medium, which is watercolor.
06:45 It's the most difficult medium.
06:47 What do you love about watercolor?
06:49 I know.
06:50 I tried oil when I was a kid.
06:53 I had lessons, but I'm allergic to turpentine and oil.
06:57 So I stopped.
06:58 My parents were discouraging me from painting.
07:01 "You're a starving artist."
07:02 I said, "I know."
07:04 That's why I'm a part-time artist.
07:06 I can't say I'm full-time.
07:08 What can you tell our viewers, especially art collectors, that watercolor artworks is good?
07:16 Everyone always thinks that it should be acrylic, it should always be oil.
07:22 But you really need that skill to paint with watercolor.
07:27 It's very difficult.
07:29 You have to be almost perfect, because if it's not good enough, I just throw it away.
07:35 That's why I need the inspiration to paint.
07:42 Sometimes I can paint several paintings almost simultaneously.
07:47 There are times it's empty for months.
07:49 For months.
07:50 But there are times when you're just in the moment, that creative process.
07:54 You can paint several pieces all in one evening.
07:58 I'm painting watercolor, then I'll add acrylic to it.
08:01 Then I'll paint on canvas or on paper.
08:04 But it's more like, as I said, it's like a trance.
08:08 It's hard to explain to others.
08:10 That's true.
08:11 Watercolor, they say, "Why watercolor? It's so hard."
08:13 I don't, but that's the one, because it's immediate.
08:16 It's there.
08:17 It's something that you do quickly.
08:19 You don't wait for it.
08:20 If you wait, it will be gone.
08:22 I think that's why I also love classical music.
08:26 So my paintings have titles that have to do with minuet, vals, fantasy, nocturne.
08:33 You know that the music is gone right away.
08:35 It's ephemeral.
08:37 You play the note and it's gone.
08:38 So with watercolor, it's like that too.
08:40 So I capture it.
08:42 That's why the abstract sometimes comes out, because I'm just doing bands of colors.
08:47 I look at them and I said, "Sometimes I'm surprised."
08:51 Out of these 28 works, give us your top three works from this collection.
08:58 Hard to say.
08:59 All of them are your favorite.
09:01 Well, they're like children.
09:03 But since I'm an equestrian, the horses probably.
09:10 I was born the year of the horse.
09:11 Oh, fantastic.
09:13 So I usually have one or two horses in my collection.
09:17 They're hard to paint too.
09:19 You are an artist for many, many years now.
09:22 And as we can see, Filipino artists have made great strides among local and international collectors.
09:30 In your view, as an artist, where are we at in the global art platform?
09:34 Marivic.
09:35 I think we're getting there.
09:37 We're being recognized.
09:39 I wouldn't say artists are far superior and they can make it in the global scene.
09:47 I'm just in the background cheering for them.
09:50 I'm happy to be one of the audience, one of the supporters of the arts.
09:56 In that sense, I'm very happy when a Filipino artist makes it internationally.
10:00 Absolutely.
10:01 We are really very proud of our successful Filipino artists like our national artists, Benilito, Ben Cab Cabrera,
10:08 and the likes of Mark Custiniani, Elmer Burlongan, Jose Santos III.
10:12 I admire them tremendously.
10:14 They make me feel so proud.
10:17 I think artists are all proud to be together and individually also.
10:23 There's that thing.
10:24 Please invite our viewers to your 19th solo exhibit, which opens tomorrow and where?
10:29 I'd like to invite all of you to the Conrad Hotel, Conrad Manila, a luxury hotel, which supports the environment and sustainability.
10:41 It's a luxury hotel and it's a beautiful place to view the sunset.
10:46 I love painting the sunsets and the sunrise.
10:49 It will open tomorrow, right before sunset.
10:54 Until when is the exhibit?
10:55 It runs from August 15 to October 21.
10:59 Tomorrow's special, it's Assumption Day.
11:02 Assumption.
11:03 From there.
11:04 Yes, happy Assumption Day.
11:06 Thank you.
11:07 Thank you so much, Mori Vic, for joining us on The Final Word.
11:10 It's an honor to be on your show.
11:12 I'm so thrilled, really, because I've always admired you.
11:15 Thank you so much.
11:16 Thank you for giving Filipino artists a chance, in whatever level we are.
11:21 Mori Vic Rufino, visual artist, and her 19th solo exhibit opens tomorrow.
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