The art of new beginnings

After 35 years in show business, a legend and a star at the same time, “Pop Diva” Kuh Ledesma is adding more color to her life — through her paintings.

“Forty years ago, I painted almost every day while I was in high school but when I went to Bacolod for college, my focus shifted. The demands of nursing school took me away from painting,” recalls Kuh.   

“After college, my singing career took off and I thought I was content with that,” says Kuh, who first made her mark as one of the lead singers of the show band Music and Magic.

“But I found out that it is not good for us to bury our (other) talents.  He has a purpose for what He gives us. God gives some people more talents and ‘giftings’ and it is important to Him that we use them to give Him glory,” stresses Kuh, who is exhibiting 10 of her paintings  for ARTMOVES, a group exhibit of eight dynamic artists slated from Oct. 25 to 28, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., at the LRI Design Plaza, 210 Nicanor Garcia St., Bel-Air II, Makati City,

“My reason for painting has become clear to me,” reveals Kuh, who also created ripples with her portrayal of the mother of a closet gay in My Husband’s Lover, a hit TV mini-series on GMA-7 that concluded last week.

“The purpose for my exhibit this year is to raise enough funds to produce a movie on healing. The title of the movie is Hilom, which will be shown next year. It is my hope that this film will expose the perils of believing in albolaryos and to believe in the power of the word of God and the power of prayer, which is the Bible,” says this painter with a purpose. Kuh says this independent film is based on true stories and real accounts.

Kuh believes firmly that we on earth, “find our joy when God reveals to us what we can do through Him.”

‘Evie’

Evie Roque’s “senior” moments are probably her sharpest and most vibrant.

Evie, 64, mastered doing digital art on her computer just about the same time she got her senior citizen’s card. She got hooked on the Photoshop  program and became an Andy Warhol fan through her works — she calls it Warholian digital artistry.

The Warhol influence flows strongly and continuously in her works as Evie spends hours and hours on her computer keyboard, juxtaposing layers and layers of colors, textures and combinations. She admits to a “passionate attachment” to her art.

 Evie, who looks half her age, is enamored with Andy Warhol’s sense of freedom and spontaneity. A housewife whose main passions were her home and garden, she was convinced by friends to accept commissions for computer-generated artwork. 

Imagine, her most recent artwork had the hunky Azkals as subjects!

For ARTMOVES, Evie collaborated with photographer Mandy  Navasero.

Evie and Mandy’s bold experimentation with photography and digital art, as inspired by Warhol, is riveting. Their works are headturners — wallflowers that won’t be ignored.

Some of Evie Roque’s works feature PCSO chairman Margie Juico and GM lawyer Joy Rojas; Marinduque Rep. Regina Ongsiako Reyes; Makati Rep. Abigail Binay, PAGCOR president Jorge V. Sarmiento  and his wife Wawie, St. Luke’s Global OB-gyn  chair Dr. Rebecca B. Singson, RS Francisco of M Butterfly fame, Eula Valdez and Tom Navasero of PHILAB Scientific.

Other featured artists are Roland Santos, Katrina Pallon, Jetro Jocson, Monchot Ongsiako and Vinson Yap and Mandy Navasero’s Batanes photos in collaboration with painter Bobby Nuestro.

ARTMOVES is open to the public. About 80 artworks will be on exhibit. 

(For inquiries, call 896-3208 or 0915-5430482.) (You may e-mail me at [email protected].)