Business Concept Magazine January 2023

Charlie Co was born and raised in Bacolod, Negros Occidental, Philippines. While his father operated their furniture factory and family business below their ancestral home, young Charlie spent countless hours on top of the roof staring at the sky, oblivious to his surroundings while he created visual images in his mind. “The roof was my playground and I found it normal to daydream and get lost in my own world. Dreams and imagination are part of your creativity,” he shares. Aside from his exposure to the family’s furniture manufacturing business, Charlie often watched his sister paint which struck a chord in him. Drawn to current events since high school, Charlie discovered a way to integrate hard news and his personal experiences in his most tangible form of communication—Art. “I started…

Toti Cerda was born and raised in Binangonan Rizal, Philippines. His childhood dream was to become an artist. At an early age, he spent his free time creating sculptures from mud. “I already had a strong gut feeling about what I wanted to be when I grew up and I’m grateful to my parents for always encouraging and supporting me with my dream,” he shares. Growing up with scarce and limited resources, Toti acknowledged that life is difficult and education is important. “My mother had to pawn her properties for me and my siblings to obtain a formal education. I pursued a bachelor’s degree in Drafting Technology at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines. After graduating from college, I worked as a draftsman in Meralco Foundation,” he informs. After five…

Romulo Galicano was born and raised in Carcar, Cebu, Philippines. In kindergarten, Romulo would watch in awe as his teacher drew mountains, flowers, and nipa huts on the blackboard. “Her drawing piqued my curiosity and captured my attention. I was so mesmerized by the different colors of the chalk. Convincing myself that I needed to have a piece of that chalk, I waited patiently for the bell to ring and for everyone to step out of the classroom for recess. Heart racing, with nobody in sight, I seized the colored chalk, broke it in half, and slipped it inside my pocket before breaking into a sprint,” he laughs out loud. Little did he know that very chalk was solidifying his dream and anchoring his true calling. “I knew that very…

I met Norlie Meimban in 2018 at the fifth installment of his UNNATURAL group show, UNNATURAL 5, at J Studio in Makati City. I was tasked to write a profile highlighting his journey as an artist and curator back then. As he walked me through his work, what piqued my interest was his ability to bring together a diverse group of artists from just about every walk of life, stage in their careers, and art style and medium. Each piece was unique to its creator and stitched together with a singular vision of crafting something truly their own. Throughout our discussion, it was evident that Norlie had a knack for spotting talent and cultivating artists. UNNATURAL is not just an exhibit for established visual artists; it’s an incubator and platform…

Janice Liuson-Young was born and raised in Manila, Philippines. As a child, Janice was fond of drawing faces and popular characters. She gave the illustrations to her friends, who admired her talent and creativity. As she grew older, Janice attended summer art workshops to explore and improve her craft. She graduated cum laude and valedictorian from the University of the Philippines in Diliman with a degree in Bachelor of Fine Arts major in Visual Communications. After graduating from college, Janice worked as an illustrator, designing clothes and toys for children. Shortly after getting married to Atty. Frederick Young, Janice concentrated on helping her in-laws run their bakeshop and tea business. After bearing and rearing four sons, however, Janice felt a strong compulsion to finally enter the art scene. Starting at…

Throughout Slavic cultures in which the Eastern Orthodox church had a dominant influence, painted icons in the Byzantine tradition performed the leading role in portraying the stories and events in the new testament through codified iconography for a nonliterate audience. Examples exist from as early as the sixth century, nearly three hundred years before the monk St. Cyril introduced a written language to the region. Their inherent seductive beauty belied their evangelistic purpose. They were pervasive in local churches as well as many households serving both a decorative function with their elaborate gold leaf and jewel like pigmentation, as well as objects of almost mystical veneration. Ukrainian born Bay Area artist Valentin Popov has taken this traditional object and created his own mythology, replacing the key Christian entities with super…