Focus on the Arts Festival in Rockwell Power Plant is mounting this week “Silhouettes of Enduring Traditions,” a two-man exhibit by sculptor Michael Cacnio and painter Dominic Rubio.

Together, they collaborated on unique works that integrated Rubio’s renowned colonial character portraits—with their signature elongated necks— with Cacnio’s sculptures of Philippine traditions and practices. Both artists have exhibited widely both in the country and abroad.

Rubio, a graduate of the Fine Arts program of University of Santo Tomas, recently unveiled an important mural on Philippine-United States relations at the Philippine Embassy in Washington D.C.

Cacnio, meanwhile, is a product of the College of Fine Arts at the University of the Philippines, and is a 2006 Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) awardee.

Both are among the most sought-after artists in the Philippines.

“Silhouettes of Enduring Traditions” is on view at the North Court of Power Plant Mall at Rockwell Center in Makati City until Aug. 19.

At the Concourse Level is the Genre Art exhibit “Nostalgia,” featuring works by painters Richard Arimado, Averil Paras, Aljo Pingol, and Benjie Mallari.

The exhibit features related themes of memory and nostalgia in the context of Philippine history.

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 shows a sense of nostalgic national pride and the intricacies of our cultural past.

Paras features market themes and portrait-like renderings with a vintage feel.

Pingol’s paintings and sculptures uses his sense of classical composition to evoke nostalgic scenes of what he himself is most proud of in a bright and colorful way.

Mallari uses the idea of urban or rural genre in depicting an idyllic remembering of what the Philippines was at its peak. His paintings reflect the different characters that make up Filipino society from the lens of a specific time in history.–CONTRIBUTED

The exhibit is on view at Power Plant Mall in Makati City; it is co-presented by Galerie Joaquin. Call 7239418.