[CATALOG] OAAW Scintilla

presents
S C I N T I L L A :
D R E A M S C A P E S
a solo exhibit by Maria Victoria Rufino
August 15 - October 21, 2023
Gallery C, Conrad Manila

S c i n t i l l a : D r e a m s c a p e s
Conrad Manila proudly presents its 4th exhibit for 2023, the 25th
installment of its highly acclaimed “Of Art and Wine” exhibition
series at the hotel's Gallery C, featuring the works of Maria Victoria
"Mav" Rufino.
Highlighting nature through delicately crafted artworks, this art
exhibit at Conrad Manila not only provides guests with a new and
elevated creative experience, but also reminds them of our promise
and commitment to filling the world with the light and warmth of
hospitality, while taking utmost care of the environment through
sustainable practices.
“Of Art and Wine: Scintilla: Dreamscapes” will be featured at Conrad
Manila’s Gallery C from August 15 to October 21, 2023. The artworks
are available individually for purchase. Part of the proceeds will
benefit the Child Protection Network and Marian Missionaries of the
Philippines. For more information, please call Conrad Manila at +63 2
8833 9999 or email Ruston.Dongaol@conradhotels.com
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S o f t l y , t h e S p i r i t m o v e s :
T h e S a c r e d S p a c e o f M a r i v i c R u f i n o
By Cid Reyes
"Your sacred space is where you can find yourself over and over again." Thus wrote
the spiritual writer and mythologist Joseph Campbell.
For several decades now, the multihyphenated writer, artist, businesswoman, and
concert producer Marivic Rufino has sustained a series of exhibitions on her theme of
"Dreamscapes." These works have earned the praise of distinguished figures in the art
and cultural scene. Among them is the late founder of the Art Association of the
Philippines (AAP), Purita Kalaw Ledesma, who extolled Rufino’s "sense of poetry,"
while esteemed artist Juvenal Sanso sensitively observed that she handles watercolors
as if they were caresses." Cultural critic Rosalinda Orosa deemed that "she sees in her
mind’s eye." With his keen acumen, renowned writer Alfred Yuson was delighted that
"her watercolors assuage the restless eye."
On view at the Conrad Manila as part of its Art and Wine series is Marivic Rufino’s
"Scintilla: Dreamscapes." These latest works allow us to see the artist’s vision in
perspective, with the dream theme’s rich capacity to yield and germinate more visual
reveries that correspond to Rufino’s interior state. Her studio is more than just a
physical space where she can work on her paintings; it is her sacred space, indeed, her
spiritual state that has taken on the physical aspects of reality.
While most everyone is familiar with the word "scintillating," as in a scintillating
conversation, meaning lively and invigorating, the contraction "scintilla" might stop
one in his tracks, unless he has been an avid viewer of legal thriller movies, such as
those based on John Grisham books, with that oft-mentioned phrase "scintilla of
evidence," meaning the slightest trace or shred of proof. Scintilla is the Latin word for
spark or flicker, which is a tiny or scarcely detectable amount. When used to describe
a dreamscape, which is already in the realm of the evanescent, the artist intensifies the
climate of separation between reality and fantasy.
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The signature style of Marivic Rufino conveys sensations of mistiness, vaporous
exhalations, and gentle brushstrokes of muted colors suspended in the air, all done in
one seemingly effortless gesture. Confronting the white, blank surface of the paper,
the space becomes a waiting canvas for the formation of memories and reveries,
dissolving before her eyes, hushed to the last tremor of their existence.
It is therefore not surprising that many of Rufino’s works are allusions to music, where
a note vanishes at the nanosecond beat upon execution. Within the deep space of her
visual silence, a minuet, a valse, a rhapsody, a nocturne, and an etude calmly whisper
their melody, rendered at the periphery of sight and sound.
The work is done on a small scale, compactly, and distilled. Compared to most
contemporary works, Rufino's works will be regarded as miniatures, and the artist is a
miniaturist. This brings to mind the case of Swiss artist Paul Klee, denounced by some
quarters with that label, to which the British critic Herbert Read remarks in defense:
"Greatness is not measured in inches."
Lyrical, intimate, poetic, and contained, Rufino's watercolors do not invade a viewer's
retinal space; instead, they insinuate themselves through nuances, suggestions, and
evocations, evoking a detached reality immersed in its dreamlike state. At the outset
of the composition, the clutter of all extraneous details is denied since the artist's
innate compulsion is towards restraint and subtlety, simplicity, and economy. An
offering to the spirit needs no fancied-up ornamentation or colorful tinsel.
The art of Marivic Rufino is the elegance of minimalism, where a flicker, a spark of
light, and a faint trace of motion settling down to stillness are all the scintilla of joy
that the artist needs to keep on dreaming, even as she draws, again and again, from
the inexhaustible well of her sacred space.
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Marivic Rufino
Maria Victoria Rufino, Filipino artist, writer, concert producer and
businesswoman, graduated with honors from Marymount Manhattan
College, New York with a Liberal Arts degree, major in Theater Arts and
English Literature. Born in the Philippines, she attended high school in
Marymount International School in Barcelona, Spain, and in Rome, Italy
where she graduated valedictorian.
She studied painting in both the Western and Chinese tradition (Ling Nan)
under various masters in Manila and New York. She has held 18 solo
exhibitions in Paris, France; San Francisco, California; Madrid, Spain; and
Manila.
Photo by: Brandon Lim
An artist, writer, opinion columnist (for BusinessWorld for 30 years), Marivic
has launched her book “Beyond Brushstrokes,” profiles of significant
Filipinos (Bookmark 1995) at the Ayala Museum.
Her artworks were featured in the book and the launch coincided with her solo exhibit at the Ayala Museum. She has
held solo exhibitions in San Francisco for the celebration of the Sister Cities of Manila and San Francisco (1994). To
celebrate the Philippine Centennial (1998), she was invited by the Department of Foreign Affairs to hold a solo
exhibition at UNESCO House, Paris. She has participated in group exhibitions in France and China.
In 2011, she was invited by the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Philippine Embassy in Spain to hold an
exhibition “Romanza” to celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of our national hero Dr. Jose P. Rizal at the Museo
Nacional de Antropología in Madrid. “Romanza,“ the book of short poems by National Artist for Literature Virgilio S.
Almario "Rio Alma" with matching paintings by Marivic Rufino and translations by award-winning poet Marne L.
Kilates was launched. (Tahanan Books 2008)
Marivic has had diverse work experience. She was Public Relations director and Banquet manager of Hotel Inter-
Continental Manila; assistant marketing director of the Cultural Center of the Philippines; and private consultant for
various business and banking advocacies. She has served in several corporate foundations and as board member and
vice president of Alliance Française de Manille. She is active in Philippine Red Cross Makati branch of Rizal Chapter as
Vice Chair and council member.
Her life-long journey in art has been challenging due to multiple responsibilities but fulfilling in her heart. The
exhibitions and productions have been for the benefit of foundations and missionaries who are helping abused
children and women. Child protection and environment are her personal advocacies.
She “remembers the future” déjà vu. A writer once described her as a “synesthete.” Her paintings are “visual poems,
exquisite, subtle, fragile, magical, pure… effervescent as perfume, utterly feminine in sensibility.” (quotes from art
critics and national artists)
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S c i n t i l l a : D r e a m s c a p e s
ETUDE
Watercolor
16” x 12”
2023
PHP 70,000
NOCTURNE
Watercolor
16” x 12”
2023
PHP 70,000
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S c i n t i l l a : D r e a m s c a p e s
MINUET
Watercolor
16” x 12”
2020
PHP 70,000
AMANECER
Watercolor
20” x 14”
2023
PHP 90,000
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S c i n t i l l a : D r e a m s c a p e s
EL OJO DIVINO
Watercolor
20” x 14”
2011
PHP 90,000
PROVENCESCAPE
Watercolor
20” x 14”
2023
PHP 90,000
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S c i n t i l l a : D r e a m s c a p e s
FIELD OF DREAMS
Watercolor
20” x 14”
2023
PHP 90,000
RHAPSODY
Mixed Media
20” x 14”
2015
PHP 90,000
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S c i n t i l l a : D r e a m s c a p e s
WATER LOVE
Watercolor
20” x 14”
2023
PHP 90,000
GIVERNY REVERIE
Tribute to Monet
Mixed Media on Canvas
20” x 14”
2023
PHP 90,000
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S c i n t i l l a : D r e a m s c a p e s
PARADISO
Watercolor
14” x 20 ”
1990
PHP 90,000
PRIMAVERA
Mixed Media on Canvas
20” x 14”
2023
PHP 90,000
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S c i n t i l l a : D r e a m s c a p e s
PAPILLON
Mixed Media on Canvas
20” x 14”
2023
PHP 90,000
PAS DE DEUX
Mixed Media on Canvas
15” x 15”
2023
PHP 90,000
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S c i n t i l l a : D r e a m s c a p e s
ARCO IRIS
(Rainbow Dreamscape)
Mixed Media
24” x 18”
2022
PHP 100,000
ATARDECER
(Sunset Dream)
Mixed Media on Canvas
24” x 18”
2023
PHP 100,000
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S c i n t i l l a : D r e a m s c a p e s
SERENITY
Watercolor
24” x 18”
2023
PHP 100,000
SOLITUDE
Watercolor
24” x 18”
2023
PHP 100,000
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S c i n t i l l a : D r e a m s c a p e s
VALSE FANTAISIE
Watercolor
24” x 18”
2023
PHP 100,000
CONCIERTO
Mixed Media
21” x 23”
2015
PHP 100,000
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S c i n t i l l a : D r e a m s c a p e s
IMAGINATION
Mixed Media
18” x 18”
2005
PHP 100,000
TUSCAN DREAM
Watercolor
30” x 23”
2023
PHP 120,000
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S c i n t i l l a : D r e a m s c a p e s
DUET
Mixed Media on Canvas
36” x 48”
2013
PHP 150,000
BIRDS OF PARADISE LAMP
Mixed media on silk blend with
acrylic shade and
stainless steel base
H: 68” x D: 14”
PHP 50,000
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S c i n t i l l a : D r e a m s c a p e s
ODYSSEY LAMP
Mixed media on silk blend
with acrylic shade on
stainless metal base
H: 28” x D: 14”
PHP 45,000
INNER VISION LAMP
Mixed media on silk blend,
acrylic shade with glass
base
H: 23” x D: 14”
PHP 45,000
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S c i n t i l l a : D r e a m s c a p e s
LA MER SCREEN DIVIDER
Mixed media on silk blend
and wood
H: 72” x W: 64” x D: 1.2”
2023
PHP 120,000
SUNFLOWER DREAM
SCREEN DIVIDER
Mixed media on silk blend
and wood
H: 72” x W: 64” x D: 1.2”
2023
PHP 120,000
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with special thanks to
Published 2023 by Conrad Manila
All rights reserved @ 2023
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and
retrieval system, without prior permission inwriting from the publisher and/or artists.
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Tel.: +632 8833 9999 Email: conradmanila@conradhotels.com
Website: www.conradmanila.com