“Waves: Currents of Bygone Time” at the Art Cove

On a warm July day in Bacolod, the air inside the Art Cove of Park Inn by Radisson Bacolod hummed with quiet anticipation. Conversations fluttered like brushstrokes across a canvas as guests gathered for the unveiling of Waves: Currents of Bygone Time, the gallery’s 11th exhibition and a deeply personal journey through the mind of Arnel Villaceran. Opened on Thursday, July 11, 2025, the event marked not just another milestone for Art Cove, but a vivid resurrection of memory, place, and identity.

Making Waves through Art

Villaceran’s work pulses with life, literally. His mixed-media pieces, epoxy-coated dining utensils, and acrylic-on-canvas paintings don’t merely hang on the walls; they ripple outward, pulling viewers into a world shaped by tides, time, and childhood wonder. At the heart of it all is Baod, his hometown, once known as Baludan, then Baud, and now officially Barangay Baod. The title Waves is drawn from the Bisaya word balud, a linguistic echo of the sea that once kissed the edges of his youth. It’s more than a nod to geography. It’s a declaration of origin.

“I’ve experienced vivid visual episodes during my childhood, images that weren’t fixed, but moving,” Villaceran shares. “Looking at things with my naked eye is different from how they’re recorded in my memory. Waves are not just waves; they were home. Home of my imagination.” This sentiment reverberates through the gallery, where each piece feels less like a static image and more like a moment suspended in motion, like a memory caught mid-breath.

More about the artist

Yet Villaceran is not only an artist who paints the past. He shapes the present, too. A Licensed Professional Teacher by training, he also serves as Layout Artist and Curatorial Staff at The Negros Museum, grounding his creative vision in both education and curation. With a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Advertising Arts from La Consolacion College Bacolod’s School of Architecture, Fine Arts, and Interior Design, he has steadily built a reputation for bridging tradition and innovation. In 2018, he received the Perfecto E. Marazonia Award, and in 2023, he debuted his first solo exhibition, Himulak, at Gallerie G. Since then, his presence in the Negros art scene has only deepened, supported by his involvement with the Negros Cultural Foundation Inc., The Performance Laboratory Inc., the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, and the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

The event: Waves of color and form come to life

The opening of Waves: Currents of Bygone Time drew a vibrant crowd. The gallery filled with media personalities, cultural advocates, and fellow artists, all drawn by the promise of something intimate and authentic. The ribbon-cutting ceremony followed, led by Villaceran himself alongside Lyn Gamboa, President of the Negros Cultural Foundation Inc., and Mila Chiu, the organization’s Secretary. Their gestures were simple, but symbolic: a collective act of invitation, opening the doors not just to an exhibition, but to a shared history.

Archie Javellana, Rooms Division Manager at Park Inn by Radisson Bacolod and guest of honor, closed the program with words that lingered long after the applause faded. He described the exhibit as “a portal to that memory, fragments of time that may one day become treasured memories.” For Javellana, the gallery is more than a decorative space. It’s a storyteller. “We feel privileged,” he said, “to offer not only venues for celebrations but also spaces for storytelling and art inspiration.”

Promoting Art in Bacolod

And that’s exactly what Art Cove has become since its inauguration on November 23, 2021. More than a mixed-use area tucked within a hotel, it’s a living gallery with a mission: to bring art out of isolation and into the everyday paths of travelers and locals alike. By hosting rotating exhibitions like Waves: Currents of Bygone Time, it fosters art tourism and strengthens the cultural fabric of Negros.

The exhibition will remain on view until September 30, 2025. Visitors can explore the collection in person at Park Inn by Radisson Bacolod, where select artworks are available for purchase. Inquiries can be made at the front desk, and an online catalogue, accessible via QR code at the gallery, offers a digital window into Villaceran’s world.

To walk through Waves: Currents of Bygone Time is to drift backward, gently, into a childhood shaped by sea and soil, where memory doesn’t just recall—it flows.