Mindless of the bad weather, art enthusiasts stormed the Tala Gallery to support the latest art exhibit for a cause of Kuya Daniel Razon.

Titled Brush and Shutter, the exhibit showcased Kuya Daniel’s photos rendered on canvas by Tala Gallery artists, from September 28-30, 2009. The event is for the benefit of the soon-to-rise La Verdad Christian College (LVCC) in Metro Manila—the first college in the Philippines to offer Mass Communications and Nursing for free to poor but deserving scholars.

Fresh from relief operations in areas devastated by Typhoon Ketsana, Kuya Daniel arrived ten minutes early for his speech and thanked everyone who came to the exhibit.

“Thank you so much. With God’s help we were able to come up with this kind of exhibit. And I hope that all the proceeds of this project will also go to a lot of good things. Thanks as well to the artists. I do not know all of them personally, but God knows all of you. I know that God will continue touching your hearts in doing good for other people and sharing your God-given talent for those in need,” Kuya Daniel said in his opening speech.

More than 50 original photographs of Kuya Daniel rendered in painting have colored the moss green wall of the cozy gallery at Scout de Guia St., Quezon City. Each artwork used different media such as acrylic, oil, and watercolor. Many were already sold out, according to Candy Manzano, Operations Manager of Tala Gallery.

Selfless service is the core of Brush and Shutter. It is not simply art for art’s sake, but art for service sake.

“Soon, we’ll be able to launch maybe a bigger event for the benefit of other people who are in dire need, especially now that we are facing a calamity imbued in Quezon City, Rizal, and Cavite. We have started our relief and rescue operations as well as medical missions and we will be needing a lot of relief goods, medicines, and vaccines as they [victims] are asking for augmentation of vaccinations.”

Kuya Daniel also thanked his mentor and uncle Bro. Eli Soriano of Ang Dating Daan (The Old Path), who also gave the idea of a free college program.

“Once again, I thank God. In behalf of Bro. Eli Soriano, who has been very supportive of everything that we have been doing and is our mentor who taught us to open our hearts and our minds in doing good to others, especially to those who belong to the household, we thank those who supported this event. Thank you very much and we thank God. To God be the glory.”

After his 15-minute welcome remarks, Kuya Daniel roamed around the gallery to give a final glance at each work designed to give hope to underprivileged out-of-school youth.

Every piece of his photographs proves Kuya Daniel’s flair in photography, which he says is a God-given talent that must be used to extend help to people.

“In most of the things that we do, our inspiration always is the good that we know. That is always the inspiration, for me, that is, and I suppose for you also. The good that we know inspires us to do good things, which we align not for anything else,” Kuya Daniel told reporters. “We can use our God-given talents in things that are good, all of them. It’s just a matter of how you use your talent,” he continues.

Brush and Shutter is Kuya Daniel’s third art exhibit after the equally succesful Looking Beyond in February 2009 and In My Eyes in November 2007. Proceeds went to the public service programs under the Kamanggagawa Foundation. (Published on October 3, 2009)

Written by Chris Anne Gonzales