Toots Tolentino’s coup: RP artists’ NY exhibit

Communications wizard Joselito O. Tolentino – "Toots" to the art world – has organized, for the second successive year, an exhibition of new works by new artists at the Philippine Center Gallery in New York. It opens on August 25 (with a formal reception) and ends September 5.

What tremendous incentive and encouragement the show will serve the three men and two women artists! They are Addie Cukingnan, Sandra Fabie-Gfeller, Azor Pazcoguin, Doltz Pilar and Wally Sy. Interestingly, they have widely varying professions – which fact proves that artistic talent will out.

Addie, wife and mother, is a businesswoman who manages the famous Kitaro chain of restaurants. Sandra, the other woman in the group, is a financial management graduate from St. Scholastica’s College. Azor is a physical therapist graduate from the UE. Doltz is a visual merchandiser, floral stylist, landscape and interior designer. Wally Sy is a UE dental medicine graduate.

A preview of their joint exhibit, titled "New Artists plus New Works equals New York" was held last July 15 at the Renaissance Art Gallery (formerly Nemiranda), where the display ended August 3.

Toots expresses the objectives of the NY exhibit thus: To help Filipino artists discover NY as one of the top capitals of the world. / To help showcase artists’ works at the Philippine Center so Pinoyorkers and the general public will appreciate their work. To gain a new perspective of the meaning of art in relation to the artist’s personal point of view by joining the group show. / To create a positive attitude about the NY experience in their lives, thereby enriching themselves and enhancing their craft to further make them ‘world-class’. / To remember forever that NY served as the gate way that opened the minds of the artists to a much wider world out there. / To instill in their minds that the NY project served as an educational trip which they will never forget.

While organizing the NY exhibit, Toots published a formidable-looking, back-to-back magazine. Its first section consists of interviews of the five young artists whose photos appear with samples of their paintings as well as feature articles starting with Toots’s own "A New York State of Mind". Due credit is given assistants in his communications consultancy firm; namely, Alberto Mendrajelo, Carmina Sanchez and Popoy Cesar T. Villanueva, executive producers; Noli and Agnes Romero, associate producers; Gino Dormiendo, writer; Jay Javier, photographer; and Mark Inducil, graphic designer.

The other half of the magazine, Artlink, has feature articles on Literature, National Artists (Gino Dormiendo’s profiles of Cesar Legaspi and Jose Joya), and mini-interviews of assorted personalities recalling their NY experience. Violinist Coke Bolipata, who started his ten-year stay in NY when he was only 12, reveals a most refined sensibility, keen perception and rare idealism with a hitherto unsuspected literary pen. (He should continue writing!) Theater director Bobby Garcia vividly recounts how NY changed his life and career; actor-singer-composer Cocoy Laurel describes his years as a drama student in NY where he broadened his vision and honed his skills. In Manila, Marge Enriquez re-discovers a life of the spirit through dance.

Artlink includes Places in Manhattan, Photography, Interiors, Fashions, Hotels, Food. In sum, underlying the magazine is Toots’s unending promotion of the arts and artists. Here are but a few cultural events his firm has projected: The British Council’s British Fortnight, Food, Fashion and Film Festival; The Candoco Dance Company; "Guhit" – Design and Architecture Awards; "Miss Saigon" at CCP; Repertory Philippines – at 30; Rep’s Miong – The Life of Emilio Aguinaldo"; for the National Centennial Commission, The Re-enactment of Rizal’s Martyrdom at Rizal Park, Luneta, featuring Cocoy Laurel and Jackie Lou Blanco; The Fourth Children’s Summit organized by Walt Disney and UNESCO; Twenty Contemporary Masters Work in Philippine Art sponsored by Remy Wines and Spirits; Rizal – A Cantata, written by National Artist Leonor Orosa Goquingco, music by Jeffrey Ching, at the F. Santiago Hall.

The latest is "New Artists Plus New Works Equals New York." We wish "impresario" Joselito "Toots" Tolentino, the five new artists and, ultimately, our own country unqualified success.