If you have not yet seen Sonny Zandueta’s Pintagraph solo exhibit on “Color Implosion” at the 2ndfloor gallery of Porta Vaga Mall, now is the time to view his works. The exhibit will run until the end of the month.
Pintagraph is a technique developed by Sonny in 2013,painting on images and manipulating color, shape, and texture to enhance details. It is then mounted on a sintra board for a lithographic look. Pinta comes from the Filipino word to paint.
“Implosion is related to an instance of something collapsing inward just like the phenomenon of supernova colliding with a black hole where lights and colors are sucked in and implode, producing interactions,” explains Sonny.
His works follow his philosophical training and thinking “Take it as it comes… it’s time to pursue your passion, for me its music and the arts,” he adds.
Sonny is a Baguio-born Filipino visual artist, singer-songwriter, and musician who spent most of his adult life in Europe and the United States.
I have known Sonny since 2016, but this is the only time I am getting of glimpse of the man– his fame and his talent.
He is the fifth of seven children of Jose and Virginia Zandueta, former owners of the famous Nalinac Beach Resort in Bauang La Union back in the ‘60s and ‘70s. His siblings are Norman, Agnes, Thelma (+), Lilibeth, Jogine, and May. He has three daughters Sascha, Veronica, and Cathy.
In 1973, he went to Belgium to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy at the KatholiekUniversiteit Leuven where he met singer-songwriter Gavin Gervis, an American student whose brother Burt Ward played Robin in the Batman TV series.
Gervis has encouraged Sonny to write his own music and to join the Stainless Steel group. Before this, he visited his two older sisters in Austria. One was working and the other was finishing her practicum training in Vienna. Sonny and his friends did a lot of gigs around Belgium. Many Saint Louis University professionals are graduates of Louvain University.
He, however, moved to Germany where he graduated with his BA in Philosophy at the Schiller College Heidelberg.
He went back to the Philippines in 1981, and in 1983, he released his single “I can’t make it alone” by Zap records. His recordings were backed up by famous Filipino musicians like Tillie Moreno (vocals)and Boy Katindig (keyboards). His LP “The Passing Show” recorded and released in Belgium dominated the airwaves.
“Music is in my blood,” says Sonny. After all, he is the nephew of famous Soprano Catalina Zandueta.
His first exposure to music happened when he was eight years old when he started playing the ukulele inspired by Elvis Presley.
By nine years old, he was playing drums for the Octaves. It was during these times that he started to paint. He was a second place winner in the non-representational category of the annual Art Association of the Philippines (AAP) Art Competition with his work, “Rising Sun.”
He then became the president of the AAP Parañaque chapter.
Sonny’s many talents aside from pintagraph and music include project planning, conceptualization of special events like Session Road Art Flash for Ibagiw, a three-day surfing festival in San Juan, duet and group exhibitions with Maela Jose,and organization of outreach programs.
He jetted to the U.S.and worked at different kinds of jobs which started in 1984. He finally settled in Manila in 2004.
He loves to do pintagraph, though he has no formal training. It was in Agoo, La Union where he met famous lawyer-musician BubutOlarte. He did art works and music with famous tinatik artist MaelaJose. Sonny finally settled in Baguio in 2014.
His pintagraph implosions and music explosions will continue to be part of the art scene in Baguio. Cheers to more implosions and explosions,Sonny!
