Maria Cristina Taruc, granddaughter of the late Huk supreme Luis Taruc, with her impressionist paintings she did in New York City and Los Angeles. PHOTO COURTESY OF MARIA CRISTINA TARUC
ANGELES CITY- After sweeping New York City and Los Angeles with her art, a granddaughter of the late Huk Supremo Luis Taruc has come home armed with canvass and brush. Maria Cristina Taruc, who had been known by her followers in the US cities as Tinz Taruc, is an impressionist whose paintings have been inspired by Philippine nationalism, a trait she is reputed to have inherited from her grandfather.
She is daughter of Dr. Romeo Taruc, the only child of the Ka Luis, founder and leader of the Hukbo ng Bayan Laban sa mga Hapon (Hukbalahap or Huk) from 1942 to 1954, after he led an insurgency group fighting for land reform even earlier in the 1930’s.
Local art critic Gigi Cortez Balmaceda noted that Maria Cristina had also been Miss Angeles City and Miss Tourism Pampanga before she left for the US to pursue her art.
“She is an upcoming master painter making waves. Her art is fresh and modern. She uses bright colors and her brush strokes come from her soul,” Balmaceda said. “Her paintings are inspired by Philippine nationalism and Hukbalahap stories that her lolo Luis Taruc shared with her up to the wee hours.
Some of her paintings have Mount Arayat as background, Mount Pinatubo, Sierra Madre mountains, Mount Makiling, Biak-Na-Bato, Luisita sugar plantation and the San Luis Pampanga river banks,” she noted. The elder Taruc was born in San Luis town in 1913 and died in 2005.
Balmaceda noted that Maria Cristina studied visual arts at the Paraons School of Design in New York City and became “a prodigy of masters Rafael Maniago and Bienvenido Sibug in Los Angeles, and also learned from Aris Bagtas of Marilao, Bulacan.”
“She is a gifted impressionist, being inspired by the works of Van Gogh, Monet, Picasso and O’Keefe. She is an artist with no fear. She just paints with no holds barred,” Balmaceda added. Balmaceda also noted that Maria Cristina also “experimented on painting lily ponds in different colors, thus the hours and reflection change depending on time of day.”
She said that Maria Cristina’s paintings will be exhibited at the Museo ning Angeles here from May 3 to 9 and SM City Clark from May 23 to 25.
