NEWSFLASH

FILIPINO SCULPTOR/PAINTER PREVIEWS SHOW AT BIG APPLE
(Reprinted from the Philippine Star, March 13) By Benjamin Afuang

Paetenians Home on the Net, March 16, 2000 - This article was posted by the writer at the Newsgroup "Usap Paete" at www.paete.org.

Sculptor and painter Fred Baldemor has regaled the country and a number of cities abroad with exhibits of his ivory, wood, and bronze figures for more than two decades. To that considerable sum of shows, he is adding "Buklod Sining Exhibit by the Baldemor Family" slated to run from March 27 to April 7, 2000 in the Philippine International Center at 556 Fifth Avenue in New York.

That the show includes works by his wife and three children subtly introduces a hitherto secluded aspect of his creative life -- a home-based experiment to help nurture the talents of his own progeny while he continues to literally cut deep into the forest of new art forms and subjects within his reach. A week before the opening date, Baldemor's pieces along with paintings by his wife Tala, daughter Ringo, and sons Walter and Wilson will be flown to New York, but not before these are shown to the family's closest friends and patrons in Manila.

Previewing the uncrated pieces, one is struck by their diverse, if not contrasting, qualities. If the father had taught his children anything, indeed it would be that they shouldn't copy his style or themes; neither the wife's strokes in her still-lifes bear any similarity to her husband's early watercolor works. In this sense, Fred Baldemor has proved to be a good art shepherd. To help them get to New York, he hasn't been leading his flock but merely urging them on from behind. The young Baldemors each paint with a measured sense of the complex modern world in which they grew up, showing preparedness and maturity for a true vocation. Ringo, whose real name is Irene, is a 29-year-old fine arts graduate who apparently enjoys her scuba diving adventures so much that she makes her backdrop colors as if they're moving in waves. Walter, 27, is an electrical engineer, but he so much wanted to learn contemporary art he studied watercolor in New York under such brilliant mentors as Irwin Greenberg and Dale Mayers. Wilson, 21, took up Industrial Design at De La Salle University but he is decidedly at his best with portraits and landscapes in various media. Their mother, Tala, paints, from a corner of the Baldemor family's workshop, the scenes she plucks from the sedate world she has lived with Fred, a microcosm of quiet light and occasional contours of thin shadows, from sunrise to sunrise. Yet her colors are often solid, leaving little space for a hesitant stroke, especially with her favorite horticultural themes.

Collectively they should make a presentable world-premiere art show by Filipinos on Fifth Avenue. Fred Baldemor 's own sculptural pieces stand out for their seemingly boundless capacity to perfect themselves. If you're fortunate enough to have collected some of his Madonna and Child pieces, ivory or wood, lay them out on a table and see the unbroken series of generational steps to purity and grace that your collection has taken. Among other pieces, they are replicated but invested with fresh beauty in his New York package. Also, take good care of his old ivories: he hasn't done much for lack of ivory since the international animal rights groups succeeded at controlling the tusk trade. Undeterred, Baldemor now produces more with marble and alabaster. Baldemor's collection bound for New York, which includes his finest works in recent months, will firm up the country's reputation as one of Asia's sources of great art. ### (The author is editor of NewsGuam.- Ed.)