In celebration of National Arts Month this February, SM recently showcased the life and works of some of the country’s most fascinating visual artists at the My City, My SM, My Art book exhibit in SM City Taytay 

The exhibit featured pages from the book, which is a compilation of the My City, My SM, My Art campaign highlighting the best of Philippine visual arts – painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, and filmmaking. During its three-year cultural journey from 2016-2019, My City, My SM, My Art featured masters, modernists, and millennials in a roadshow around the SM Supermalls as far north as the Cordilleras and as far south as General Santos.

During the exhibit, mallgoers had a rare glimpse of the book at the My Art house, which is inspired Luzon’s Bahay na Bato. The larger-than -life book pages showcased the life and works of Maestro Jose “Pitok” Blanco.

Jose “Pitok” Blanco is known for his mural size paintings depicting the joyous celebrations in Angono that captures the faces of real people in town.  His masterpiece, Pag-ahon ng Pagoda, a depiction of the fluvial parade of the San Clemente fiesta in the 1970s was obtained by the Rockefeller Foundation in New York.  Angono Town Fiesta shows more than 100 figures at various states of delight and celebration during the feast of San Clemente, Angono’s Patron Saint.

Pitok’s children, who are second generation artists, also gave mallgoers a glimpse of their works during the exhibit. Glenn Blanco, Noel Blanco, Michael Blanco, Joy Blanco-Alejandro and Peter Paul Blanco graced the exhibit opening at the 2nd Level Bldg A of SM City Taytay and were welcomed by SM Supermalls Senior Assistant Vice President for Operations Johanna Rupisan, Regional Operations Manager Cid Victoria and SM City Taytay Mall Manager Maureen Fernandez. 

The exhibit also featured book pages of those who were part of the My Art stop at SM City Taytay:  Pinto Art Museum’s Edrick Daniel, Sculptors Kishin Javier and Lucky Salayog, and Franz Marion Vocalan.

Also highlighted were works of Angono KUTA Arts Group founder Isidro “Manong Jon” Santos whose works are free-flowing abstract forms that fuse into randomly recognizable images that are often visually arresting and have a window to his imagination.

My City, My SM, My Art is the latest edition in the My City, My SM series, which celebrates the beauty, culture, traditions and great people in cities around the Philippines where SM has malls. This comes after My City, My SM, which highlights tourism; My City, My SM, My Cuisine, which features heirloom recipes from prominent families around the country, and My City, My SM, My Crafts, a celebration of traditional arts and modern Philippine design.

Visit https://mystorymysm.com/mycitymysmmyart/ and https://www.youtube.com/MyCityMySMMyArt to learn more about the My City, My SM, My Art campaign.