“We are the kids that your parents warned you about,” greets visitors at a gallery at Pinto Art Museum in Antipolo, Rizal.
I think artists want this as a constant reminder to the young of something new to visually relish, pensively digest and learn from, according to museum guide Andy Orencio.
Artworks bearing social, cultural and political undertones would likely embellish the seventh gallery at the Pinto Art Museum, Orencio, who is also an artist, added.
The same genres in the past years would provide the new gallery with the artworks, Orencio said.
He gestured to the massive artwork titled Karnabal, a 144 inches by 480 inches depiction of Philippine society, which portrays the interwoven oddities of Philippine beliefs, practices and politics, among others.
Pinto museum opened in 2010 with four galleries. Another two galleries were opened two years later.
One could spend half of his day exploring the museum, said Joey Te, a retired medical sales representative.
“It was worth spending a few hours of what would have been a lazy afternoon time,” he posted on social media the following day.
The empty white vintage beds and seats in the garden, as well as the long benches topped with white cushions, remain suggestive of the invitation to relax.
The rugged buildings painted in white gave Te and Alex Santos, also retired from the medical sales, a sense of being trapped in a tourist attraction abroad.
The rugged looks of the structures gave Te and Santos the impression that the museum is inspired by Mexican and Mediterranean cultures.
Orencio confirmed the museum mixes Mexican and Mediterranean architectures.
“I think Dr. Joven R. Cuanang set up this museum as a therapy through artworks,” Santos said in Filipino and referring to Pinto’s owner.
The museum opened the Pinto Academy: Arts and Science for Healing and Wholeness in 2016.
Inside the 1.2-hectare uphill compound, a café offers pasta, bread, coffee, tea and other gastronomic offerings.
The museum accommodates over a thousand visitors during weekends and an average of 100 visitors on weekdays, Orencio said.
Pinto Art Museum is introducing its artists and works abroad, he added.
In 2017, it staged the Pinto Manhattan Manila exhibit in New York. On October 4 this year it mounted the ongoing Pinto Manhattan Manila II in Tribeca, New York.
Cuanang, a retired neurologist and an art collector, opened the museum from just a gallery in 2000.
The seventh gallery, which is currently being constructed, would be open to the public possibly by next year, Orencio said.
Visitors could expect more socially relevant artworks, he said, adding young people should await more visually refreshing messages through art.
Image credits: Oliver Samson