Artgriculture

Lito Balagtas’ Ani
Perhaps there is no imagery more evocative of prosperity than a bountiful harvest. And to Lito Balagtas, it’s a theme that evokes timelessness, and one that he inherited from his uncle, the equally-immortal Fernando Amorsolo. Ani is the golden stalks of wheat and lush vegetation that fill the expanse of Balagtas’ canvas. Ani is also a community of farmers, fisherfolk, children, gathering together with woven baskets and threaded nets, bringing in their freshest hauls.
Balagtas sees both art and agriculture a lost and dwindling practice in the face of modernism; but his skilled hands would always remember, painting and celebrating our storied past.

Angelito Baldemor’s Butil
When the wheat stalks are cut and dried, when the rice is milled, grains overflow. After the harvest come the fruits of one’s hard toil and honest labor. Angelito Baldemor goes through a similar undertaking in his carvings. He sets to the task of chipping away at a woodblock, to capture all its minute details. Rendered grain by grain, stalk by stalk, his works are a homage to the time honored tradition of the relentless toil of farmer-folk, as well as his tribute to his hometown of proud woodcarvers from Paete.