Contemporary artist Hersley Ven Casero has surprised a town in Sonoma County in California with his iconic “Laughing Boy” image — the largest mural that he has ever painted of it since he launched the Ha? Laughing Boy project in 2012 in Dumaguete.
Casero, together with videographer Toulla Mavromati from Britain, were at Sonoma County until last week where they completed the prestigious Chalk Hill Artist Residency that granted them two of the three annual sponsored places at the program, founded and managed by philanthropist Margo Warnecke-Merck.
Casero is the first Filipino to have been awarded the Chalk Hill scholarship.
It was during the Chalk Hill Artist Residency where Casero, a resident visual artist at Foundation University here, was invited to paint the colorful Laughing Boy on the faí§ade of the Fulton Crossing Gallery in Sonoma County.
Casero’s 2008 photo of his cousin Joseph Anthony, then four years old, developed into the Ha? Laughing Boy series after a controversy in 2012 when a national TV program featured another artist who had reproduced the Laughing Boy in many of his works, and who had claimed that it was from a photo of a cancer survivor.
During the three-week Residency program in California, Casero also painted on acid-free paper a series of 28 graphite pencil drawings of “wishing rocks” found around the 99-hectare Warnecke Ranch & Vineyard where they were provided studio space. “It was at the Warnecke Ranch where I drew inspiration from the redwood-covered hills, the hiking trails, the vineyard, the Russian River,” he said.
He also produced three multi-paneled interactive paintings on canvas, and a panoramic painting showing a misty morning by the lake.
“The finale of our residency program was dedicated to giving back to the community,” Casero said. On Sept. 10, Casero conducted a “Laughing Boy” workshop for a non-profit organization called Becoming Independent, which helps people with developmental disabilities in Sonoma and Napa counties live meaningful and productive lives. “I was just blown away by their own versions of the Laughing Boy, which symbolize freedom of self-expression and a celebration of individuality through the arts.”
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Casero said his recent experience at Sonoma County reminded him of his humble beginnings in barangay Bagacay here and he described as something “like night and day”.
He said none of which could have happened without the generosity of many people like Brian Krell and his parents, and Foundation University who funded their trip to the US.
He said the residency program is California also trained them how to be productive in a short span of time, “as we wanted to do all these people justice by making the most of the opportunity”.
“The breath-taking — more accurately, breath-giving — landscape of Warnecke Ranch and the surrounding nature in Sonoma County gave us the perfect setting to focus on the authentic and pure state of our art, away from distractions,” Casero noted.
“Our journey to the Chalk Hill Artist Residency served as a powerful validation that if someone like me from very humble beginnings can have a rich experience as this, then absolutely anything is possible for anyone who has a genuine passion, and is supported by people who genuinely believe in your work,” said Casero.
Before Casero left Sonoma County, Margo Warnecke-Merck connected him to Gallery 105 which finalized a back-to-back exhibit with New York painter Antoinette Wysocki. The art show titled California Dreaming will open on Oct. 18 in Sta. Rosa, California, and will run until January 2020.
Mavromati, meanwhile, is completing a documentary on their experience at the Chalk Hill Artist Residency. (Irma Faith Pal)
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