by: JPaul Manzanilla

There are countless homecoming programs being held for the country’s actors, filmmakers, and sportsmen. Few such programs, however, are noted for artists in the fine arts, as they are overshadowed by the popular show business. This homecoming exhibit by Guindulman visual and performance artist Sam Penaso hopes to challenge the young and up-and-coming artists of Bohol to hone their craft.

The  paintings displayed here build up as a retrospective exhibit of his works of figure, abstraction, conceptualization and performance art.

Images of old people attract Sam. Contrary to the polished looks of faces of the young, the elderly displays weary flesh, making them all the more human. Roughness and lines embody how they have worked out their lives and therefore demonstrate their passing in time. These faces of old people – “Aling Basyang,” “Mando,” and “Worker” – could be our kin and neighbors and acquaintances; they are individual and yet general.

Painting age puts on view how the old and weary are memorialized. These faces are beautiful. They inscribe the material living world in their very flesh and aspire to inscribe their owners’ lives in the world they inhabit.

Most of the paintings are what many call abstract and conceptual paintings. They are experimentations in lines and colors. According to the artist, the embossed letters and numbers indicate the work of technology. The increasing textualization of the world has become the very matter imprinted on his artworks. When they are stamped on the faces of old people, they signify wisdom developed through the ages. The artist’s fondness for texture becomes literal verbal text in this regard.

Sam does not want to be a prophet who, unfailingly, is not recognized in his own land. He does not prophesize but challenges young Boholano artists to offer what they have in Bohol – to universalize their individual, particular experiences.

This homecoming exhibit by Sam Penaso hopes to contribute in making the Bohol art scene active and aggressive.


Sam Penaso Homecoming Exhibit opens July 22, 2011 and will run until July 24, 2011 in the Island City Mall, Tagbilaran, Bohol