Just like entering an art-loving friend’s home, you can enjoy a sumptuous meal here while marveling at beautiful works of art.
When Marj Ruiz set out to put up an art gallery called Sentro Artista in Katipunan, she had very noble intentions. Reeling from the effects of the pandemic and the divisive election season, she wanted to find a way to inspire her twin boys.
“It was a very frustrating time and the kids are very perceptive. The approach of our government then in handling the COVID situation was different from other places. So we had to find an escape,” Ruiz recalls.
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Although she found ways to escape through traveling with her family, she found that art had the power to bring you to far away places in your imagination as well. That’s when she thought about opening a casual art gallery that was free from intimidation—one that was approachable and accessible to a wider group of people. It was also a way to expose her sons to the many forms of art and hopefully inspire them to dream bigger.
“One of my sons had fatigue with the online setup at school so I started home schooling him. We did that for about a year or two,” she recalls. Her son’s school projects would overlap with some of Sentro Artista’s exhibits and would add richness to her sons’ education.
Sentro Artista doesn’t follow the usual tropes of a gallery. It doesn’t have expansive white walls and a minimalist setup. It almost reminds you of entering a person’s art-filled home. Just like entering a friend’s home, you can enjoy a meal here as Sentro Artista also functions as a restaurant.
The food they serve is comforting classics such as kaldereta with tender morsels of wagyu beef and pan-seared salmon topped with caviar on mash and buttered vegetables and the ubiquitous barbecued pork on sticks.
For the food, Ruiz partnered with chef Mel Rocha of Liam’s and Luis Gourmet Cafe. Rocha’s cooking background is more French and Western, and she was mentored by chef Gene Gonzalez. It was all by chance how Ruiz found Rocha. When Sentro Artista started, they only served coffee and realized there was a sharp demand for food. People seemed to love spending their time amidst the artwork and food would give them an extra reason to do so.
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“We wanted to offer more,” says Ruiz. “Serendipitously, we saw someone dining at Sentro Artista wearing a chef’s jacket. We talked to her and she mentioned that she had a restaurant in Circulo Verde. After the chance meeting, we dined at her restaurant in Pasig without telling her for three consecutive nights to try as much of her food as we could. We loved everything we ate at Chef Mel’s restaurant.”
Since then, Rocha’s food has been feeding diners visiting the gallery. Groups have found it a conducive place to hold meetings with friends and colleagues. The food that Rocha serves are heritage recipes passed on in her family. She takes prides in the fact that she taps local neighboring farmers (she currently lives in Tagaytay) for the ingredients of her dishes.
“We need to support these local farmers and create dishes using their ingredients for the Filipino palate,” Rocha chimes in. She supports backyard farmers and would buy their produce even if all they have were just two pieces of squash.
In the same way that Rocha supports small, local suppliers, Ruiz—as the creative director of Sentro Artista—is also on the lookout for up and coming artists from around the Philippines. “Our strategy really was to discover artists outside of Metro Manila,” Ruiz explains. “If you’re an artist on a remote island somewhere, how will you bring your work in front of people? How will you exhibit it? It’s very tough for a struggling or young, talented artist to get discovered.”
One artist that Ruiz was able to discover was a carpenter based in South Cotabato, who paints detailed paintings based on his experiences and everyday life. His latest work resembles a carabao from afar, but when you take a closer look, you will see different faces of farmers.
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“In the beginning there were some artists who didn’t want to exhibit if they were going to be in a show with lesser known artists. But I wanted that sense of community. When we stage an exhibit or curate pieces together, I want the younger ones to feel like they’re being mentored,” says Ruiz.
Sentro Artista presents these artworks in an environment where you can easily envision them in your own home. Ruiz enthuses: “When you buy an artwork—when you bring it home—you live with it. So for me, this is the most natural setting. There’s music, there’s food, and sometimes you’re meeting with your friends here. That’s what you do with art – you live with it.”
