Artist spreads Pinoy cheer in recession-hit Boston

By MARK JOSEPH UBALDE, GMANews.TV

Published December 17, 2008 5:57pm

'Everything Will Be Alright' says the note posted behind every Bataclan painting left in random spots in the US. Bataclan.com

MANILA, Philippines - Just below one of the huge concrete fists supporting the gloomy Charles Hurley Building, Bren Bataclanâ€™s cheerful acrylic painting greets unemployed workers who are the latest victims of the global financial crisis in Boston. Â Bataclan, a Filipino freelance artist based in Massachusetts, had been giving out his merry artworks for free for the past five years to random strangers all over the world. This is his way of bribing snobby strangers, who bump into his artworks on park benches, train stations, street corners; and turn their frowns upside down. But early this month, Bataclan changed the note he attaches to the back of his paintings. Â â€œInstead of leaving my â€˜This painting is yours if you promise to smile at random people more oftenâ€™ note, I now have a new message: â€˜Everything Will Be Alright,â€™" Bataclan told GMANews.TV in an interview on Wednesday. Â As the economic crisis closed down businesses and laid off workers from coast to coast in the US, Bataclan thought the best drop-off point for his first batch of optimistic artworks would be Bostonâ€™s unemployment agency in the gray Charles Hurley Building. Â He also left a few of his paintings in one of the large electronics shops in Boston that were going to close. Â â€œI have been leaving paintings at unemployment agencies, stores that are about to close and Wall Street. I feel that this is the best way I can help as an artist," he added. Â Bataclan is no stranger to unemployment. He was one of the thousands laid off when the dotcom bubble burst in the early 2000s. Â Instead of crawling into depression, he took a paintbrush and stroke colorful hues in his canvass. Drawing inspiration from the popular animeâ€™ characters like Voltes V when he was still a kid in the Philippines, Bataclan created his merry critters with white bowling ball eyes and neon skin. Â His latest Project Smile Campaign struck the interest of Readerâ€™s Digest Magazine which would feature the Filipino artist in its March 2009 issue.Â Â â€œI think that I am able to do well because my paintings are happy art - exactly what people need these days," Bataclan said. Â Bataclanâ€™s work has been featured in newspapers, magazines, on television and radio, and was also published into a 128-paged book by Gingko Press that was released in 2007. Last August 2007, a documentary featuring his project won "Best Short Documentary" award at the Woods Hole Film Festival. He has been commissioned to do murals in schools, parks, hospitals, showrooms, and even designed a colorful patch for the â€œSpread the Bread" campaign in the US. Â â€œI always bring that Filipino warmth with me and our lack of sense of space. You know, Westerners usually have an issue with space but we Filipinos donâ€™t," Bataclan revealed in an earlier interview. Â Bataclanâ€™s artwork has reached all seven continents of the world, including Antartica. (See how Bataclan injected random smiles through the arts in this related story.) - GMANews.TV

Tags: brenbataclan, pinoysinamerica, filipinosinamerica, pinoyartist