“LOUIS Armstrong” by Tony Bennett
Some US TV shows recently surprised viewers with long and detailed features on former president George W. Bush’s new “career”—as a portraitist! Yes, the former US chief executive has been busy painting the portraits of some of the top political leaders he’s interacted with through the years, and his daughter, Jenna Bush-Hager, scooped the competition when she first broke the surprising news on NBC’s “Today” show, where she’s an occasional reporter-producer.
So, how is the former president as a portraitist? While some of his canvases look sketchy, unpolished and even Grandma Moses-ish, others reveal a perceptive eye for character and personality that all painters should possess.
So, why did Bush opt to turn portraitist upon retirement? Painting calms and soothes him, he shared with his daughter, and the sale of some of his works has helped fund some of his favored charities and advocacies.
Truth to tell, Bush is by no means the only or first former president to take up painting upon retirement: Our very own Cory Aquino beat him to it by decades, painting a lot of images of flowers and people that are now cherished by their recipients.
Last year, we attended the retrospective exhibit of Cory Aquino paintings at The Manila Hotel, and can share that some of them were quite fetching—and should fetch a very good price—if their owners later opt to sell them.
Aside from famous politicians, some entertainment luminaries have also become visual artists, like veteran singer Tony Bennett whose artworks fetch many thousands of dollars. Locally, the versatile likes of actors Cesar Montano, Maria Isabel Lopez, Heart Evangelista and singer Kuh Ledesma have successfully exhibited their works. Truth to tell, the artistic impulse is often a synergistic desire to express and create that doesn’t limit itself to just one mode of expression.
Missed opportunity
“QUEEN” by Heart Evangelista
“The Biggest Loser Pinoy Edition Doubles,” was recently concluded after a successful run that had its contestants and ultimate winner, Bryan Castillo, lose hundreds of pounds, emerging as new and much leaner persons from the corpulent shell of their old bodies. Thus, the show succeeded in motivating many overweight viewers to finally do something about their own weight, girth and flab problems—so, congratulations all around!
On the debit side however, the show missed an even bigger opportunity to make a truly “convincing” impact, because only its contestants lose weight. It would have been much more powerfully persuasive if the competition had chosen a celebrity host who was as excessively overweight as its players.
He or she would have participated in their weight-loss regimen, and similarly diminished in weight from week to week—until the star had also become practically a new person at the end of the competition. Not only would that have inspired the heck out of viewers, but it would also have energized the celebrity-host’s stellar career—a win-win situation all around!
Unfortunately, none of our notoriously obese stars was persuaded to “commit” himself or herself to the rigorous regimen, so the show’s impact was not as amazing and convincing as it could have been. —Opportunity missed!