They say if you’re passionate about something, then you’re more willing to take risks.
This is true for GMA Artist Center actress Ryza Cenon who has turned to painting to cope with the pressures she feels in show business.
Last Thursday, we went to look at the paintings she has done since she took up the brush and canvass to express her emotions. The collection of work that she has since accumulated is on display at Guevarra’s by Chef Laudico, a buffet restaurant on P. Guevarra in San Juan.
The exhibit is called Independencia: Ang Panimula and supported by GMA Artist Center and owners of the restaurant.
During the brief banter with the members of the press, Cenon said she took up painting as her means of dealing with some of the emotions while waiting for the next project on television. In vernacular she said that it’s frustrating for an artist, like her, to wait for a call from her mother studio and sometimes there’s none. So, instead of counting the rails in her windows or the number of cars that pass by along the street, she decided to learn to draw figures.
The 28-year old Kapuso actress began painting with the help of a fan, whom she also considers a friend, who taught her the basics of drawing and water color. Ryza enjoys the use of acrylic and oil paint in her artworks.
“I have a fan that knows how to paint and she volunteered to teach me,” she related. “No, I don’t have a formal training in the arts, and many people tell me to forget about going to formal classes after they had seen some of my work. They say, my style could be altered dramatically after the lessons.”
Cenon uses paints (oil, pastel, watercolor, acrylic), brush and canvas to articulate her feelings. “Well, mostly, you see dark colors in my painting and that’s because when I did those perhaps I was feeling low and down,” she said.
“I paint to express how I feel. Iba yung nabibigay niyang satisfaction sa akin, especially kapag stressed ako sa dami ng issues sa buhay in general and even sa personal life. Painting allows me to express my thoughts and ideas based on my feelings. I told myself, instead of expressing elsewhere your emotions, why not put it into painting” Cenon said.
Cenon joins a growing list of celebrities from show business that have turned to the plastic arts in sublimating their urges to express emotions through another medium. Heart Evangelista is one of them and whose paintings are usually sold out when she puts them up for exhibit. She also into hand-painting bags (Hermes bags, specifically) and gowns with designer friend Mark Bumgarner. Another GMA TV star, Solenn Heusaff, also paints. And there are others who have made painting an alternative career, foremost of whom is Joey de Leon.
In more than a year, the versatile actress now has more than 30 pieces of abstract paintings and they are hanging on the walls of Guevarra’s by Chef Laudico Restaurant until the end of the month.
You may also view them on her Facebook page RACS Online Gallery. The paintings exhibited at the restaurant are for sale and part of the proceeds will be donated by Ryza to GMA Kapuso Foundation.
I asked Ryza Cenon if she is ready for any unfavorable criticism she might read from professional art critics. The actress-turned-painter answered good naturedly, “Of course, naman. Sanay na tayo dyan. At first siguro, magdaramdam ako, but I’d take the criticism to educate myself.”
Painting has indeed changed Ryza Cenon’s outlook in life.
