NEWSFLASH

DIREK AL QUINN, A SERIOUS PAINTER

Makati City, May 26, 2000 - Award-winning veteran director Al Quinn is now gaining a reputation as a serious painter.

Very few people know that he graduated from the University of Santo Tomas with a degree in Fine Arts.

"I was forced into dancing," Al Quinn chuckles. "When I was taking up Fine Arts, I was already attending ballet classes. When I graduated, I pursued ballet. I found it more engrossing."

Little did he know that dancing would lead him to another world.

He recounts: "Every time I choreographed for the movies, I had the moves go with the angling of the camera. The directors very kindly allowed me to direct my own segments. I was the one who told the directors which camera angle to take. Basically, that’s how my career in directing started. I was very lucky to work with great directors like Efren Reyes, Josefino Cenizal, and Jerry de Leon."

It took his wife Beth to make him retrace his interest in painting by giving him an oil and canvass set. He says that it took him two full years to even begin painting again.

For the black and white show, Giselle Toengi is the model in his works on human figures/nudes.

His works sometimes show the influence of pointilism, something which was inspired by his decision "to test my patience. Now I enjoy it, even if it takes so long to complete."

Opening May 28 at Ayala Mall, Glorietta, Ayala Center (in front of Bon Appetit, Rustan’s Makati), is Al Quinn’s second exhibit, "Shadows of Black and White."