Sweet! John Lloyd Cruz, Isabel Santos exhibit artworks together at ALT 2024
MANILA, Philippines — Artworks by actor John Lloyd Cruz and girlfriend, artist Isabel Santos, are among the opuses to see at ALT 2024, an art collective that opened in Hall 4 of SMX Convention Center in Pasay City and runs until February 25.
True to February as both Love and Arts Month, Cruz’s and Santos’ names go one after the other under West Gallery, one of the nine founding and participating galleries in the exhibition.
Cruz goes by his real nickname, “Idan,” and shows three enlarged and illuminated photographs simply titled as “Chinese foods” 1 to 3.
Santos, meanwhile, has several large abstract paintings on display, including an installation that makes her among the five artists with special exhibitions distributed around the venue.
Artist Efren Madlangsakay of West Gallery said the 22 artists in their exhibition are a good representation of the diversity in ages and backgrounds that their gallery espouses.
“There are new and veteran artists, there are also young and more mature,” he shared in an interview with Philstar.com.
According to him, some of the 22 will be able to visit the ongoing exhibit, but he cannot tell if these artists include the lovers John Lloyd and Isabel. He, too, noted that many of the art pieces are already sold, but declined to say if among those sold-out are John Lloyd’s and Isabel’s.
John Lloyd, said Madlangsakay, has been delving into photography and installation arts even before the COVID-19 pandemic, and like Isabel, is a freelance artist who is not really exclusively under West Gallery.
More than bringing more exposure and sales for an art gallery, the inclusion of a showbiz celebrity like John Lloyd into an exhibit helps make art reach a wider audience, said Madlangsakay.
“In my opinion, ‘pag may ganu’ng popular person, I think, mas nakaka-reach ka ng bigger audience, kasi mas nalalapitan ng tao ‘yung art,” he explained.
“Good naman s’ya,” he said on the current state of the local arts. “Especially after the pandemic, the art scene is booming again and people are coming again.”
