Artists, writers, content creators to gather in Cebu Art Book Fair

CEBU City, a Unesco Creative City of Design, is hosting the first Art Book Fair in the country on July 2-3, 2022.The event, which will happen at From Here Content & Events Space in Crossroads Cebu, features the works of various local and national artists, with exclusive creative sessions from award-winning artists like Larry Ypil, Clara Cayosa, and Happy Garaje.The event is an avenue for Cebuano artists and digital content creators where they can meet one another and sell their masterpieces.Organizers are expecting around 100 artists, designers, art creators, writers and poets who will showcase their works at the two-day event.“It’s a community event and we hope that CABF inspires our local artists, the new and the ones who took a break from the pandemic, to get back out there. It’s time to share their work once again,” said Mark Deutsch of Happy Garaje, one of the event organizers.Marc Abuan, a graphic designer based in Bangkok, said the upcoming event is part of an international network of organized book fairs that were held in New York, Melbourne, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur.Art Book Fairs from all over the world are intended to celebrate art in printed form, including self-published art books, zines, posters and postcards.In Southeast Asia alone, cities like Singapore and Bangkok have done successful exhibitions over the past few years.Deutsch said there will be no joining fee for the arist at a first-come, first-served basis.Organizers noted that Crossroads, a strip mall that houses artsy shops, has always promoted and supported art, design and creative communities in Cebu.The two-day event headlines a poster show entitled “Estoryang Binotbot,” a theme interpreted by local creatives using illustration, collage, photography and even poetry.It also opens an exhibition area where various artists from Cebu, Manila, and cities from other countries like Amsterdam, Bangkok, Tokyo and New York will showcase and sell printed versions of their work.Organizers will shoulder the operational cost of the exhibition such printing of the posters and promotion.Artists who will be able to sell their works will have a 50-50 profit sharing with CABF, whose proceeds will support the future events of the Art Book Fair.There will be a gate fee of P25 to those who would like to attend the event.