The Art of Manuel Baldemor

I am now a proud owner of two paintings from renowned Filipino artist Manuel Baldemor.

My newly acquired Manuel Baldemor paintings

This journey - and my interest in Baldemor's art - started a few years ago. For some reason, lots of social media art gallery accounts kept popping up as sponsored ads in my feed. (I guess this is because I would often click on these accounts whenever they showcased a painting that I liked haha.) From one of these gallery accounts, I saw a painting that really appealed to my personal taste. At that point, I had no plans of acquiring art but the piece I saw made me interested enough to ask about it. It was already sold but it was then that I learned about Manuel Baldemor, a master artist who was already very well-known. I searched for some of his other artworks and I realized that I really love his style.

Some of Baldemor's very colorful art works

Over the last couple of years, more Baldemor pieces kept popping up in my feed and on a few more occasions, I asked the account about pieces that caught my eye, only to be told they were no longer available. I was now becoming quite familiar with his style to the point were I could tell if a painting was his even without checking the signature or the details of the art work.

Now back in late May, I was in SM Megamall one evening and I passed by the Art Center on the 4th floor. There was an exhibit and from outside the Art Center, I could see that the paintings featured a style that looked incredibly familiar. I immediately thought "is this an Baldemor exhibit?" and apparently, it was! I proceeded to go in.

Baldemor's "Chateau" exhibit at the SM Megamall Art Center

Baldemor is known for using bright, vibrant colors in his paintings. Which made the section on Castle Archives: Paired Passages stand out a bit in the exhibit. This  section showcased several smaller paintings that were practically monochromatic, with shades of brown and yellow. The gallery consultant talked to me about these paintings, and while I said they looked beautiful, they might be outside my pay grade. He told me that while the exhibit was ongoing, I could get a 23% discount if I purchase two of them. They would still by quite expensive but I thought I might not have another opportunity to purchase Baldemor pieces that I really liked and that I could somewhat afford. Still, I had never purchased paintings before so I decided to think about it.

Baldemor's Castle Archives: Paired Passages collection

As the end of the exhibit got closer, I finally decided that I would like to purchase a pair. While several paintings had already been sold, two of the pieces I really liked were still available. I messaged the gallery consultant to make my reservation and I made my way back to Megamall the next day - the last day of the exhibit - to initiate the payment process and lock in my purchase.

The gallery consultant told me that he could have Mr. Baldemor write dedications at the back of the paintings and asked me if I would like that. That was a no-brainer; of course I did! The paintings were delivered to me at home after the dedications had been written. It took even more time for me to finally have them installed. The gallery could have installed them upon delivery but I felt like I wanted more time to figure out where exactly to hang them e.g. how high up on the wall and how far apart from each other they should be. As such, I put them up myself.

It was only once the pieces were on my wall that I realized how much I actually really love them. I mean, they already looked beautiful in the exhibit but I started appreciating them a whole lot more once they were on my wall. They are quite expensive but they were created by a renowned master artist. More importantly, they make me very happy each time I look at them. Thankfully, I haven't experienced any buyer's remorse. If anything, I feel very lucky that I was able to get works from Manuel Baldemor.