Market day In Dagupan is also art appreciation time

MARKET ART SHOW Colorful social distancing platforms adorned with artworks featuring Dagupan City’s cultural and historical icons are installed in front of neatly arranged market vendors’ carts along Galvan Street, the city’s usually crowded public market. —WILLIE LOMIBAO

DAGUPAN CITY, Pangasinan, Philippines — Going to the public market in the city during the coronavirus pandemic is also like attending an art show.

Residents make their weekly purchases while standing on social distancing platforms in front of vegetable, meat and fish carts that line Galvan Street.

All 112 platforms are set with digital paintings of the city’s cultural and historical icons rendered by artist Patrick Bacolor. The paintings were commissioned by the city government as mental stress relievers for people coping with the quarantine, according to Mayor Brian Lim.

“Whether we acknowledge it or not, we are going through different levels of stress now,” Lim said, “but being in a pandemic does not mean that we can’t express our artistic ability.”

The platforms also ensure that physical distancing is enforced at the market.

Bacolor’s art promotes Dagupan’s history and culture, as well as the skills of its homegrown art community. He featured National Artist Victorio Edades, considered the “Father of Modern Art in the Philippines,” who was born in Dagupan.

Bacolor painted a remnant of the Franklin Bridge, which had been preserved to remind people about the destructive flood that struck the city in 1935.

A relic of the Manila-Dagupan train was also the main portrait in several platforms to honor the locomotive that made its maiden trip from Manila to Dagupan on Nov. 24, 1892. This train is displayed at the city museum.

Dagupan icons

The paintings also portray the Gen. Douglas MacArthur monument, the iconic “bangus” (milkfish), downtown Dagupan and the St. John Cathedral.

Bacolor was initially asked to paint a mural on the market grounds. But he said this was not feasible because of the rough and untidy flooring.

The city engineer’s office has also installed colorful disks and metal plates along the sidewalk, which lead to the entrance of the public market, so people can stand a meter apart while waiting in line.