Sony Robles Florendo

It’s been a long multi-colored journey for Sony Robles-Florendo – from graduating with a nutrition-dietetic degree from the University of the Philippines in the ’50s to becoming a painter in Baltimore, Maryland today with a mission – to share with others her belief in painting as an art for healing. Five years ago Sony, then 77, took the paintbrush for the very first time as a diversion. She was recuperating from several ailments and was bored from doing nothing. One day Josie Lim Cruz, a former classmate at the UP who had shifted to the fine arts and painting in Baltimore, told her she had the makings of a painter. Sony was incredulous; she loves to look at paintings, not make them. “Don’t be afraid”‘ Josie told her. “Art is perfect, you can’t do wrong”. A little hesitant, Sony took the challenge, and in a few hours produced a painting that thrilled her mentor – and herself. The first try gave birth to more works. Sony discovered she loved to paint, that painting made her happy beyond her expectations. In five years, she painted 300 pieces – except for her first tries, which were representational like the gate of the Robles house in Monte de Piedad, Cubao, and some Philippine rural landscapes, all she does now are abstracts in vibrant colors that take one’s breath away. She recalls that Josie did not teach her techniques and matching colors; she let Sony do what she wanted to do. Sony says what Josie taught her was inspiration. “She inspired me to paint and love doing it”. And painting made her anxieties disappear; painting healed her. She now wants to inspire others to paint and brush their problems away. Twenty-three of her paintings are on exhibit starting March 16 until April 16, 2019, at Kulay Diwa Gallery of Philippine Contemporary Art, a selective art gallery in Sucat, Paranaque. The solo exhibit is her first in the country. She had previously been part of painting shows abroad, like the Ground-stroke on White Canvas featuring works of Filipino artists living in Washington, DC, and Maryland organized by Julian Oteyza; the National Arts Program, Asian Art Center at Towson University and the Women’s  Heritage Center in Baltimore, where Sony spoke on “The Art Healing”. Three years ago she was one of two featured artists at the Philippine embassy in Washington, DC during the celebration of “Healing and the Arts in the Philippines and abroad”. “Sony was the storyteller about the power of art and healing for Story Corp, which records and documents stories and experiences of people. The collection is archived in the US Library of Congress. The art gallery owner, Roberto San Agustin Nolasco, said to be a very selective creme de la creme of art collectors, tells why he chose to exhibit  Sony Robles-Florendo’s artworks. Choosing it, he says, was “not really a very difficult process”  Kulay Diwa has always promoted works of new and upcoming artists who have never exhibited before. “Though Sony has exhibited her works many times in Washington, DC, and Maryland, USA, her exhibit at Kulay Diwa is her first in the Philippines “From 1987 to the present, this has been one of the thrushes of the gallery. I saw in Sony the raw talent of a budding artist that I have been looking for all these years. her brush strokes and style are very naif but can discern immediately the message that she would like to convey to her audience. looking at her paintings you can see the common everyday life scenes depicted in vibrant colors. It makes you wonder that Sony looks at the world in a different light. One will set aside the humdrum inequities of life…to see it in a more positive light. “Having started her career as a painter late in life, Sony, now 82 years old, may be called the “Grandma Moses” of the Philippines and I am proud to be the one to do her first exhibit in the Philippines One can only feel happiness in Son’s works. Viewers are attracted to the vibrant colors that seemingly glow, that inspire, even at eventide. And Sony confirms that painting makes her happy. “Ising, my heart sings when I paint. It’s my new life, this finding happiness, and finding it as art for healing.” She speaks about her art to children and adults, in schools, hospitals. Occasionally, people come to her to be inspired to paint, thus taking their minds off problems. At intimate parties, she brings an empty canvas and brushes and acrylic paint and guest dab in and splashes a myriad of colors on the canvas, and everyone is happy. And more so, Sony, the healer through her arts. Indeed what is happening may be called the apex to Sony’s journey to fulfillment. She has worn many hats – as a restaurateur owning and running the first Filipino-American restaurant in Baltimore, a pioneer in institutionalizing Filipino food, author of the book “Signature dishes of the Philippines,” and a public health nutritionist in Baltimore.

Domini M. Torrevillas