"This French is Pinoy!": Artventure Opens

CEBU, Philippines - Alliance Française de Cebu launched its art gallery on July 23 with “This French is Pinoy!” for its first exhibit featuring the artworks of French artist Henri Etève which try to convey to us his experiences here in the Philippines.

In 1966, as in itinerant young traveler, Etève a.k.a Di Meliora turned up in Manila and was quickly absorbed in the bohemian world of the city.

It was learned that Etève/Di Meliora arrived in Manila in his twenties. He found a “congenial milieu in Malate’s Café Los Indios Bravos, which was then the favorite watering hole of Manila’s artistic and literary cognoscenti and frequented by assorted other bohemians.”

“By and large an autodidacte, Etève created paintings, sculpted wood and metal, wove tapestries, and cobbled together unexpected and striking assemblages,” this was further learned.

While not obviously identifiable at first glance as the classic homme engagé, certain of his works offer cogent social and political commentaries on the Philippines and world events, this was also stressed.

At the La Galerie, his works entitled “Manila Day Life,” “Oh, to be young,” “Orders in chaos,” and “The Fortuneteller” offer an explosion of colors representing a spectrum of the 45-year artistic career he spent in the country.

The vividly colorful canvases, according to Alliance Française, mostly peopled by graceful, organic or geometric forms, sometimes belie more serious underlying primordial themes. “But then again, more often than not, Etève’s works can simply be appreciated for the playful, witty, or humorous “artventures” that they are,” this was pointed out.

According to Alliance Française de Cebu project manager Mary Ann Liza Farrugia, entrance to the exhibit is for free. La Galerie is located at the 2nd Floor of QC Pavilion, Gorordo Avenue, Cebu City. Gallery hours are from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays to Fridays.

French Ambassador Thierry Borja de Mozota and Honorary Consul Michel Lhuillier, together with a sizable crowd of art enthusiasts and observers keen to appreciate what Etève’s brushstrokes have to offer, converged during the opening. Exposition jusqu’au 30 septembre 2010! ?