Mav Rufino: ‘I paint dreams, but they become my reality’
Sunsets, sunrises, the sea, the moon and the stars, butterflies, sunflowers, lavender and poppy fields leap out of Marivic “Mav” Rufino’s canvases in a soothing blaze of colors as she creates art straight from the heart.
After a seven-year hiatus, Mav returns to the art scene with her 19th solo exhibit titled Scintilla: Dreamscapes, which is now showing at Conrad Manila’s Gallery C until Oct. 21 as part of the hotel’s Of Art and Wine series. Her last exhibit was in 2016.
From sad blues to bright hues
At the opening of her exhibit, which she called “a renaissance after a long pause,” Mav wore a shimmery red dress, like she was coming out of the sad blues, grays, and blacks of the past into the bright light of day.
The past years living with the pandemic had cast a long shadow of gloom on Mav’s life. “I lost three siblings—a sister and two brothers, one of them to COVID-19—in a space of eight months,” she recounts. “I spent two birthdays alone in my condo and did not see my family for five months.”
But after the darkness came the dawn of a new day. “The pandemic taught me the value of relationships, friendships; not to take people for granted because you never know how long you’ll have that person in your life,” Mav shares. “It also taught me that the expensive things don’t matter; what does is being with people you care for and who care for you. The basic things matter, things you can’t really buy, like the sunrise, sunset, the full moon. Everything else is superfluous. And of course, it taught me the value of prayer, which saw me through all the difficult times.”
Through it all, Mav just painted and painted, riding the waves over the stormy seas of life even as she lost her beloved Rafael “Paeng” Buenaventura, her best friend and anchor; her dear horse Sky; and recently, her spiritual mom, Sister Maria Isabel Villacarlos.
She reveals, “But people say that the sadness doesn’t show in my paintings. They’re serene and look happy. They’re transformed; when I painted them, they weren’t exactly happy. Maybe it’s the grace from above; I paint like I’m in a trance, meditating. And when I look at it the next morning, I’m amazed and ask myself, ‘I painted that?’”
“Art is my rock, my spiritual center,” Mav declares.
Romancing nature and light
Her love affair with nature and light started when she was a child and had her first group show at age 11. She studied contemporary Chinese watercolor painting under a Chinese master, evolving from Classical Chinese to Impressionist. She started her Dreamscapes series in 1992, now into more abstract and mixed media.
“Like Salvador Dali, what I paint becomes my reality, like art imitating life,” Mav points out. “Some artists think of their works; me, I dream of it. It’s like I’m painting the future. One day, I see it and recognize I painted it in the past.”
The 25th exhibit in Conrad Manila Hotel’s Of Art and Wine series, Scintilla: Dreamscapes includes 23 artworks by Mav Rufino. Of these, 16 are new, including functional art (lamps), while the others are not really old because Mav started painting them years ago but completed them only now. Some of these works have traveled to her exhibits in San Francisco, Paris, and Madrid.
I dream of a better place for my family, for the next generation, where kindness and goodness will prevail no matter what happens.
Conrad Manila general manager Fabio Berto says, “I like Mav’s delicately crafted artworks in watercolor, which is a master medium as it flows and grows. Her theme is uplifting and inspiring. Her artworks, which highlight nature, echo the hotel’s advocacy on taking utmost care of the environment through sustainable practices.”
Hosting a quarterly art exhibit underscores Conrad Manila’s commitment to promoting Filipino artists. The hotel boasts the biggest collection (736) of respected Filipino contemporary artists in its guest rooms, function rooms, F&B outlets, and public spaces.
Through her art, Mav has helped her many beneficiaries, like the abused young girls and victims of incest at St. Mary’s House in Tagaytay. “It’s always for others that I hold exhibits, not for myself or vanity,” she discloses.
A quiet place
With the upheavals and chaos going on in today’s world, Mav stresses, “There’s a kind of quiet, a stillness inside me. Art critic Cid Reyes said I have a sacred space that nobody can touch; no matter what goes on, it stays quiet. That’s why my paintings are peaceful, serene. Whatever tragedies or devastation there may have been in my life, there’s always a part of me that remains whole. There’s like a bubble of grace around it.”
Today, Mav is simply happy to be with her family and close friends whenever and wherever. She likes to travel—perhaps to Europe, to the beach, the mountains, or the clouds where she can be one with nature. She’s no shopaholic, but enjoys rummaging through her mom’s vintage closet.
What’s Mav’s secret to looking young?
Her instant reply: “Art! When you look closely at artists or creative people (like writers, dancers, composers), they don’t really look old, they have few fine lines. Art keeps them young because when you’re creating something, you’re also nourishing your spirit. In that sense, you’re blessed.”
So, what else does Mav dream of?
“I dream of a better place for my family, for the next generation, where kindness and goodness will prevail no matter what happens,” she muses.
No matter what happens, Mav will never stop sharing her art—and her heart—with everyone.
