Cadiz City Mayor Salvador Escalante launched a coffee table book featuring the paintings of artists from the Second District of Negros Occidental at the Panaad Park in Bacolod City Thursday afternoon, April 20.
Also launched was the Saganak, the official monthly newsletter of the Cadiz City government.
The Las Pintas coffee table book is a “compilation of God’s commissioned works from the Cadiz, Manapla and Sagay artists”, Escalante said.
The paintings featured in the book are proof that Cadiz City is blessed with skillful artists just waiting to be tapped, he said.
He pointed out that about 80 percent of the paintings featured in the book are by Cadiz artists.
Featuring their works in one book is the best way to honor their splendid efforts, he said.
During the COVID-19 pandemic Escalante started an annual painting contest to rescue the artists of Cadiz and opened it up to the rest of the Second District.
Four editions of the Cadiz painting contest in a span of three years has produced more than 400 art pieces, he said.
“This is proof that visual arts in Cadiz is alive and gaining ground,” he said.
Escalante was assisted by Cadiz City Vice Mayor Lilia Decolongon and councilors Lalen Lamis and John Vincent Escalante in the unveiling of the book and newsletter at the Cadiz Pavilion at the Panaad Park.
The paintings featured in the book are on exhibit at the Cadiz Pavilion.*