Art for love

Gratitude is well ingrained in the heart of budding artist Charisse Valientes Cayaban. She recently held her first solo exhibit at the Sining Makiling Gallery of UP Los Baños for the benefit of her uncle, UPLB Economics professor Rodger Valientes, who is battling the Big C.

“My Tito Rodge was a big influence in my choice of campus when I was about to enter college. He encouraged me to excel and pass the UPCAT. To this day, he is an inspiration,” says Charisse, a 19-year-old Fine Arts student of UP Baguio.

“Now, it’s my time to be there for Tito Rodge. I am holding this exhibit for him, to help in his hospital expenses, to show him my support,” she adds.

Cha(left), oil, 15 in. x 20 in. Fix You(right), oil, 29 in. x 29 in.

STAR’s Allure and Newsmakers assistant editor Büm Tenorio Jr., a very good friend of Rodge, organized and curated the exhibit titled Gratitude. Charisse exhibited 15 artworks that were all sold out on the opening day. 

Guests, including the high-spirited family of Charisse and Rodger, excitedly entered the gallery after the ribbon cutting led by Leon Gallery’s Jaime Ponce de Leon, Cinema Evaluation Board chairman Christine Dayrit, UPLB-Office for Initiatives in Culture and the Arts director Jerry Yapo and UPLB College of Economics and Management dean Dr. Isabelita Pabuayon. 

Guests feasted on the sumptuous fare prepared by Kubiertos Catering. Gratitude was also made possible by the UPLB Com Arts Society Alumni Association and the UPLB Economics Society.

Jaime Ponce de Leon fell in love with Charisse’s Cha, a self-portrait of the artist. “It has its own haunting mystery. It’s beautiful,” says Jaime of the painting.

Fr. Gerard Deveza, a healing priest, was drawn to Tito, a painting that depicts Rodge on a promontory, perhaps in Batanes, the hometown of his youth. Fr. Gerard is a spiritual adviser to Rodge.

It’s also interesting that Charisse’s Fix You is an anime rendition of the classic Mother and Child. The painting is at once dark yet set in a colorful scene. It is replete with tenderness, hope and love. Fix You might also be a story of intense friendship because Christine Dayrit fell in love with it and gifted the artwork on the spot to Büm, her best friend of 23 years. Büm, of course, was filled with gratitude.

(From left) STAR’s Büm Tenorio Jr. and Michelle Soliven, Charisse Cayaban, Christine Dayrit, Yvonne Romualdez and Richard Tiu.

Summer at the Beach is therapeutic in its silence and serenity.

“Gratitude is my way of saying no one deserves cancer. Not my Tito Rodge, not anyone else,” ends Charisse.

(If you wish to help Rodge, please visit gogetfunding.com/togetherforsirrodge.)