IT’S not an auction but the energy can be just the same, if not stronger. Think of it as an art lottery where the anticipation is high — but unlike the lottery where the chances of winning are low, here, everyone wins something. For the lack of a better name, let’s call it an “art surprise.”

On Jan. 27, the Saturday Group of artists — 31 visual artists, a writer-painter, and a lawyer-painter — will have an “art surprise” of 100 paintings at their gallery at 4th floor of the EDSA Shangri-La Mall in Mandaluyong City.

Called the “Art of Medicine,” the event is for the benefit of the UP College of Medicine Class 1995.

Here is the mechanics: buy a ticket for P30,000, come to the “art surprise,” wait for your number to be called, and receive a work of art. The 100 people who buy their tickets are guaranteed to receive a painting. The catch is that like Forest Gump’s box of chocolate, you’ll never know what you’re gonna get.

Is it going to be a painting which is a collaboration between Frank Caña and Roel Obemio featuring the former’s kaleidoscopic figures and the later’s iconic “volumetric figurations of storybook characters?” Or perhaps, Ronnie Bercero’s realist painting of a cat that complements Migs Villanueva’s whimsical children with dotted eyes and mouth?

Each painting up for grabs is made by two collaborating Saturday Group members — one “kuya/ate” (a senior artist) and one “bunso” (a younger artist), said the group’s president, Omi Reyes, who himself worked on seven artworks in collaboration with others.

The other participating artists are: Hermes Alegre, Rudy Lunod, Lydia Velasco, Ysa Gernale, Salvador Ching, Francis Nacion, Anthony Palo, Buds Convocar, Nida Cranbourne, Danny Pangan, Maryrose Gisbert, Jaime Gubaton, Daisy Carlos, Anna de Leon, Inna Vitasa, Ding Hidalgo, Robert Deniega, Aner Sebastian, Helena Alegre, Joseph Villamar, Gerrico Blanco, Eman Santos, Atty. Joy Rojas, Roel Obemio, Sheila Luis Tiangco, Carlo Ongchanco, and Tessie Picaña.

NEGOTIATING
Five decades ago, the Saturday Group was formed thanks to coffee shop meet ups and on-the-spot painting sessions. Seven of its former members are National Artists: Benedicto “Bencab” Cabrera, Arturo Luz, Jose Joya, Vicente Manansala, Cesar Legaspi, H.R. Ocampo, and Botong Francisco. Photographers and writers were also members in the beginning, but today it is exclusive to visual artists — who may also happen work in other fields like interior design, law, communications, etc.

The “art surprise” does not have a theme, so the subjects range from landscapes and portraits, to whimsical creatures, wood, and gears, which seamlessly blend together despite the fact that two different artists with different aesthetics and techniques have worked on them. In short, the surprise paintings are equally good, so no one will end up as a loser.

Asked how two painters negotiate their thoughts and put them into one canvas, Mr. Reyes said the secrets are compromise and communication.

“Mahirap, kapag hindi mo kasundo ang artist. Para kayong kumakanta, kailangan hindi kayo nagsasapawan. Pero kung parehong sikat ang pakiramdam ng artist, mahirap (The two artists should compromise. It’s like singing, where one does not try to overwhelm the other. It’s going to be difficult if the two artists think they are equally famous),” he said with a laugh. “Dapat mag-usap (You really need to talk).”

Mr. Reyes, whose career spans 35 years and who started working on mahogany and gears in 2010, has collaborated with two “bunso” artists, Anthony Palo and Robert Deniega, to produce seven different artworks.

The youngest member in the group is Mr. Palo, whose works reflect his fascination with comics, cartoons, and anime. He held his first solo exhibition in 2009.

Mr. Deniega, meanwhile, was a commercial portrait artist, book illustrator, and animator before joining the Saturday Group in 2010. His scenes, portraits, and sketches are often about Pinoy culture, the Filipino woman, and families at home.

The three men’s collaborative works, done in mixed media, stand out from the other paintings at first glance because of Mr. Reyes’s use of wood and gears as the canvases’ frames. “They call it steampunk, I do not know what steampunk is, and they put me in that class, so I think, it’s okay,” he said smiling, but added that it’s better if people would not box artists in because it limits them to a genre.

GENDER DOES NOT MATTER
But what about a collaboration between different genders? Who gives in when the work involves a man and a woman?

“It does not matter if you are partnered with a guy, because you are both an artist no matter the gender, and your goal is to create a good art work. I think it’s all about check and balance, mag pakiramdaman kayo at hindi magsasapawan (you feel each other out and don’t try to overpower the other),” said painter and interior designer Anna de Leon.

She joined the Saturday Group in 2000, and was the group’s president from 2008 to 2010. For this exhibition, she collaborated with Mr. Deniega and Daisy Carlos, whose works revolve around clowns and harlequins. Because her co-creators’ works are figurative, and hers is not, she did the paintings’ backgrounds.

When asked how does a painter know when an artwork is done, she said it is feeling it more than knowing.

For ticket inquiries, call Honey at 0922-414-8585 or Carla at 0927-864-1111. Tickets are also available on sale at the gallery.

For more information on Saturday Group, check https://thesaturdaygroup.weebly.com. — Nickky Faustine P. de Guzman

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