Manila basilica to host 1st religious rust-art exhibit

As part of the preparations for the quadricentennial celebration of the arrival of the image of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in the country, the basilica that houses it will be featuring a religious exhibit of artworks made from the rust the all-steel church accumulated during its existence.

The San Sebastian Basilica Conservation and Development Foundation, Inc., in partnership with Reredos artists, will host Belleza Del Carmen, a free religious exhibit with original artworks that utilize the rust collected from the ongoing restoration of the San Sebastian Basilica.

“An exhibit that is able to evoke something in the viewer that points to the divine, and one that can contribute to the restoration of the basilica is where passion and purpose meet,” said Pia Soriano, a religious artist who used oil pigments incorporated with pulverized rust in her featured works.

In a release, the foundation said the challenge of working with such unusual and historic material made the task more appealing to Reredos, a group of professional artists that specializes in religious art, often in the form of ornamental screens covering the back walls of an altar.

Leading the Reredos is Micheal Muñoz, a recipient of the prestigious 13 Artists Award by the Cultural Center of the Philippines

The Belleza Del Carmen exhibit will run from May 5 to July 16 this year at the first floor of the San Sebastian Convent, Quiapo, and admission is free.

Sales of the artworks, which will be available for purchase until December 2018, will directly fund the restoration of the Basilica’s columns.

For more information about the art exhibit, interested parties may contact the San Sebastian Basilica Conservation and Development Foundation Inc. at savesansebastian.org@gmail.com or through landline at (632) 708-5122 and may also visit http://www.facebook.com/savessbasilica for more updates.