Always First An Artist

We all know Heart Evangelista, the artista. But how much do we know about Love Marie Ongpauco-Escudero, the artist? A look into her latest exhibit In Full Bloom unlocks her world, and the exciting future ahead

- Jenica Chuahiock

When people see Heart Evangelista, the silver screen siren, fashion icon, and social media darling, they think they know everything there is to know about her. That is, until they are reminded of her real name, Love Marie, scribbled on canvas, adorned in frames. Suddenly, every public guise of her seems to melt away into something else.

“Love Marie is somebody who is very private,” she says of herself, and her love for staying home. Never mind the fanciful outfit posts on Instagram, or the television shoot in some exotic destination, home is where she would rather be, to work on her art. “That’s exactly why I wanted to put my real name [on my art], because I wanted it to be different from me as an artista. Me as who I am in real life.”

There is something quite surreal, and conflicting, in calling her Love Marie. Even as she welcomes guests warmly into the glass interior of Artist Space, Ayala Museum, you could hear people addressing her by her more popular stage name. But it’s not a Janus-like deception, rather more like delving into a rabbit hole and finding this wonderland, where colors and texture impart something more personal.

Nevertheless, people would do well to reckon more with Love Marie, who dates way back to a childhood in San Francisco. “I remember, growing up, I had a few pictures. Every year, I’d go to the Academy of Arts [and] take photos there. My dream was to study there and become an artist,” she recalls, fondly. “So I painted ever since I was young. I think that was my first career, then I wanted to become a vet, then I wanted to be an ice-skater, and then an artista. So it was always first an artist.”