SUCCESS is a hodgepodge of hard work and fervor for painter Wilfredo Offemaria as he reaps the fruits of his ingenuity for 13 years now after graduating from the College of Architecture and Fine Arts.

“I wanted to prove others that success is not just about the course you take up but on how you deal with it,” Offemaria said.

Offemaria started scribbling lines and colors at the age of three, which led him to become conscious of his veiled talent.

“It is already my interest when I was young, I was like any other child who would draw on walls and before I get home from school, I have already exhausted all the pages of my pad,” Offemaria said.

To stage his artful ideas, Offemaria started joining regional competitions during his high school years in Bulacan, which further developed his talent. For him, his biggest achievement back then was when he became the national champion for a comic strip making contest led by the Philippine Tubercolosis Society.

“I thought I was good enough as an artist since most of the time I top competitions in Bulacan,” Offemaria said. “When I entered the College Architecture and Fine Arts, I was surprised to see that my classmates are way better than me and tvvcvhat they already know the things I wanted to learn.”

Despite being disheartened, Offemaria took it as a challenge and made every effort to catch up with his colleagues. He went to see the works of art of the masters such as Juan Luna, Vicente Manansala and Fernando Amorsolo at the Cultural Center of the Philippines and National Museum to be able to further his knowledge in painting. Later, he started creating a name in the art scene as he started winning awards in various competitions during and after his academic years in the University.

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Before graduating in 1993, he took the grand prize for the Annual Benavidez On-the-Spot Painting contest. In 2000, he took home the Grand Prize in the National Commission for Culture and the Arts’ Diwa ng Sining Art Competition.

In 2004, Offemaria has also been able to display his works in various places in Europe such as Belgium, Austria and Germany. Currently, he works as the creative head of an apparel company.

Abstraction

Offemaria continues to impart his creative skill as he moves forward from a realistic to an abstract approach in painting.

“I studied series of realistic works as well as abstract then decided to also try abstraction,” Offemaria said. “I continued it since there were already clients who became interested to my abstract works, though I still take hold of my realistic style.”

Now on his second solo exhibit entitled “Font,” Offemaria presented a distinct style in doing abstract. He used numbers, alibata, and Chinese characters in his art pieces showcased in his 16 pieces of mixed media paintings at the Blanc Art Space in Makati which started last Nov. 12.

Mounted on a 40×30-inch canvas, Offemaria’s “Digitized” depicts the unwanted effects of technological influences to our culture. The picture of natives inscribed in the mixed media painting represents our culture while the orange background composed of numbers suggests modernization.

Meanwhile, Offemaria’s “Abstract by Numbers A” and “Abstract by Numbers B” both illustrate the importance of numbers in our daily lives. Using different shades of red and orange, Offemaria also demonstrates how numbers can be transformed as a piece of art.

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As a tribute to the first Filipino alphabet as well as to express gratitude for the blessings he receives, Offemaria illustrates Christ on the cross with alibata inscriptions in his “Our Father.”

On the other hand, “Peace” displays the word peace using Chinese characters painted in blue symbolizing the character itself. Offemaria also displayed other Chinese characters in his paintings such as “Tranquility” and “Wealth.”

“We have to admit that anywhere we go, we were and are still influenced by the Chinese culture,” Offemaria said.

On his third solo exhibit next year, Offemaria plans to do another set of abstract paintings in collaboration with writers and poets.

“To have a different approach, I will be playing colors next year to interpret the works of writers and poets,” Offemaria said. Maria Aurora F. Mon

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