The romance of the past is the spirit that animates the aesthetic of two contrasting artists, Dominic Rubio and Richard Arimado.

Rubio’s very background reflects a career sensitive to tradition—he was raised, and still lives in, the famous folk art town of Paete in Laguna. And his aesthetics belay a sensitivity to heritage, in a style that is nonetheless modern. Rubio is, after all, a classically trained painter, having been a graduate of the Fine Arts program of University of Santo Tomas. By doggedly championing the Spanish colonial heritage, Rubio has stamped his voice in a rather crowded and cynical contemporary art scene.

Rubio’s example has influenced and inspired a new generation of artists to use heritage in their art practice. Chief among them is Richard Arimado.

Born and raised in Manila, Arimado’s defining characteristic is perspective. A product of the drafting tech program of the Technological University of the Philippines, Arimado paints his subjects in the act of looking up, pausing to examine the audience staring down at them. His vision of turn-of-the-century motifs echoes Rubio’s own works, showing a similar sense of nostalgic national pride and the intricacies of our cultural past. His perspective, however, is from above where he utilizes a birds-eye view of the scene. His subjects freeze mid-walk and look up, perhaps catching a glimpse of the wide-eyed and curious painter.

How fitting that these two painters, similar in their interest in the idyllic past, have a joint exhibit organized by Galerie Joaquin, “Nostalgia.”

“Nostalgia” runs at the Atrium of the Podium Mall until March 12, with a closing reception on March 11 at 6 p.m. The exhibit will then move to Galerie Joaquin Podium at the Lower Ground Level of the Podium Mall, ADB Avenue in Ortigas Center, March 13-15. Call 7239418, visit www.galeriejoaquin.com