MANILA, Philippines — Artist and former actress Angela Luz might have been a one-time leading lady to actor and TV host Vic Sotto for the hit ‘90s TV series “Okay Ka, Fairy Ko,” but their brief relationship that came after Vic broke up with Coney Reyes has not only produced a daughter, artist Paulina, but also a life-long friendship with Angela’s dad, National Artist for Visual Arts Arturo Luz.
At a recent interview with Philstar.com following the launch of her grandfather Arturo’s “Improvisations” collection in Rustan’s Makati, Paulina shared the story of the unlikely bond between the late National Artist and the “Eat Bulaga” host.
“They are super good,” Paulina said of the dynamics between her dad and granddad. “Because growing up, so I lived with my lolo, right? So my, my dad would visit our house every week. So my dad was busy in my lolo’s house every week.”
Proof to Vic and Arturo’s closeness, said Paulina, is Vic’s “huge” collection of her grandfather’s masterpieces.
“They’re really close. Actually, if you see my dad’s Luz collection, he has a huge Luz collection, right? Huge! That’s from me. That’s from me because every year, I would ask my lolo for two paintings, one for my dad’s birthday, and one for Christmas. So I would ask him every year and they really had a good relationship,” affirmed Paulina.
Through “Improvisations” or limited-edition, scaled down versions of Arturo’s select works now available at Rustan’s, Paulina, Angela and their family hope to make Arturo’s artworks more accessible and better appreciated by younger generations of art lovers.
“Because these are originally a lot bigger and they’re different scales, but the design, it’s all him – the design of the shapes, the composition, it’s all by him (Arturo) and then it’s licensed by the family,” Paulina said of the tables, chairs, sculptures and other pieces in “Improvisations” that have been proudly locally made using “ethically”-sourced high-grade polymer.
Amid widespread copying and commercialization of artworks, Paulina is happy that the first initiative to license the reproduction of her grandfather’s works came from her family.
“If someone’s gonna do it, at least it’s us. At least it’s our family, like I grew up with him. My mom and me, we lived with him… We’re in the same household. So if someone’s gonna do it, might as well be us,” Paulina said.
She recalled how living with her lolo was like.
“It’s funny because you only know him as the artist and stuff, but for me, growing up, I never saw him as an artist. He was just my lolo, so I was actually much older when it kind of hit me like he is a National Artist and that’s when I started really appreciating his work because growing up, so I lived with him, right? He never like boasted about his work or anything,” she narrated.
“He never talked to me about this work. I’ve never even seen him paint. Every time I go to a studio, it was always about what I wanted to do. So he had a studio at home. And he would let me do, do you remember ‘Art Attack’? Yeah, I would do art attack crafts on his table.
“Like, can you imagine like this National Artist, he has all these things with his like little granddaughter is doing art attack. He’s just lolo, he’s just my lolo. He’s just giving me his materials and then in his studio, he was just not strict to you… we’re super close. Yeah, I was super close to him. In a studio, he had one wall dedicated to my kiddy drawings.”
Paulina admitted that she had no formal art education – everything she knew about art, she got it from her grandfather.
“Everyone says it like they see his style in my work. Even if I’m not trying, it just comes out. Also because I didn’t study art. I didn’t go to art school. I didn’t take any art classes. Like one day, it just came out. So it’s probably from being surrounded by him… My work is heavily inspired by him. Honestly, if I’m going to be compared to anyone, it might as well be him. If I’m going to be under the shadow of anyone, it might as well be him.”
Although Paulina considered herself “sandwiched” in between two giant family names – Sotto and Luz – she felt more of a Luz than a Sotto.
“I know I’m like sandwiched in between, but no, I don’t feel pressured,” she said. “It’s probably Luz. I guess I’m more Luz because I’m really not into showbiz just because I’m into art, so I guess I’m more Luz…”
Pondering on her grandfather’s legacy as a Luz, Paulina shared: “The one thing that always stuck to me was that he always said that ‘less is more’.”
“There was a video about his art recently. I was watching it… and he said, the question was ‘How do you know what a painting is done? How do you know a piece is done?’,” recalled Paulina.
“And he said, ‘I know when a piece is done when I can’t add anything and I can’t take away anything anymore.’ So he really liked simplicity; simplicity is key for him. He loves things simple.”
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