Pinoy artist's big 'heart' to help raise funds for SF hospital

Depicting a person blowing bubbles in a landscape of sunflowers, a US-based Filipino artist's large, painted work is one of the sculptures that will help raise funds for the Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center this February.

Marconi Calindas was one of the four San Francisco-based artists commissioned to paint the big heart sculptures to be auctioned at the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation's annual Heroes & Hearts and Hearts After Dark events on February 18 at the AT&T Park.
Named "SF Sun Flowers," Calindas' five foot-tall heart was painted with acrylics and fixatives in his signature black lines and solid colors.
Calindas said the heart portrayed the energy of the city through sunflowers, which he spelled with two words to depict its capacity to "bring joy like the sunshine."
"It seems that my sun flower theme is more popular because it gives joy to people and the collectors. My particular theme for the Hearts in SF depicts a playful flower in San Francisco. I wanted to show the free spirit of its people and how this city is indeed magical," he wrote in an e-mail to GMA News Online.
The UP Los Baños graduate said the project was the fulfillment of his dream to contribute to the decade-old "Hearts in San Francisco" project.
"I told myself back then that someday my art will be on those hearts as well. Every year they ask local artists to submit designs and boy, do they get a lot of submissions from thousands of artists that thrive in the city," said the former journalist.
"I was so happy to have been selected and it is indeed an honor to represent also the Filipino artists who try to make it in this city, if not in the whole country," he added.
Calindas' decision to settle in San Francisco was influenced by his lingering love for his Filipino roots.
"I have always heard about how diverse and accepting the city is and has always been. San Francisco is very multicultural and it makes you feel like you are back home in the Philippines," he explained.
While he has long since left the country, Calindas' his passion in making a difference for the community— especially the LGBT community—persists in his art.
"I want to create not just art but a message that either can make you happy or a theme that can make you want to care for your brothers and sisters in this world," Calindas said.
Tickets for Heroes&Hearts cost $300, while general admission tickets for Hearts After Dark cost $100 and $250 VIP tickets. Sponsorship for both events begin at $5000. —KBK, GMA News:

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