PUGAD ni Art is set to present “Aruga,” a solo exhibition of Salvador “Buddy” Cabrera as the first offering of its new Buddha Gallery. Aruga is a compilation of Buddy’s new oil works depicting his patented mother-and-child series. 

Uncle Buddy or “Budcab”, as he is now fondly called, returns to his broad-brush stroke style, reminiscent of the Cabreras’ painting tradition from his dad Salvador “Budding” Cabrera, and his Tito Benedicto “Bencab” Cabrera, the national artist for painting. 

Aruga or “nurture” represents motherly love with Budcab’s large canvases, almost mural pieces that engulf the viewer in a sense of awe of a mother’s undying love for her child. And the simple 2D rendering lends itself to the message of the painter that a mother’s embrace is the epitome of love divine. A reflection of the devotion of Mary and the child Jesus. 

Budcab’s works are of a painter now incorporating influences from his father’s color palette. Bright and cheery and a bit round eyes and full lips are a tribute to the elder Salvador. His painting of a huge 4 by 6 feet “Sabels” in rows of three, four, and five females clad in colorful blankets is a departure from his “Japanese lady” rendered as a single monochromatic symmetrical figure on canvas. 

Buddy Cabrera erstwhile served as an assistant to his Uncle Bencab from the late eighties to the early nineties after he finished his fine arts degree at the University of the East (UE). – Text and Photos by JJ Landingin