GMA Artist Center teams up with renowned fashion photographer Jay Tablante and SM Megamall’s Crucible Gallery for a remarkable photo exhibit that features some of GMAAC’s most versatile talents in a one-of-a-kind concept photography they have never done before. Aptly called POP! Nostalgia, the one-man photo exhibit gives an eccentric guise to the modern genre of comics, cartoons, anime, movies and video games.

Inspired by Jay Tablante’s personal celebration of characters and themes that helped mold his imagination throughout the years, POP! Nostalgia showcases 12 splendid images featuring celebrities from GMA Artist Center’s stable of stars whom Tablante personally picked to portray different personalities in his notable concept shoot.

“I almost spent half of my childhood daydreaming of sci-fi worlds and playing pretend with cartoons and comic books. These images represent the inspirations of my youth and how they have influenced my imagination today. It is from these popular genres where my mind wanders every other minute for ideas. For this exhibit, my goal was to realize them in front of the lens, “ shared Jay Tablante, who at 27 has already done celebrated fashion shoots as well as impressive pictorials for a number of TV projects. He has also mounted his first exhibit at the SM Megamall entitled Afterthoughts, in which he showed a photo collection which reflected his interpretation of that “last minute dreams before you wake up” realm.

For POP! Nostalgia, Tablante touches on tidbits of pop culture, both past and present, that has helped shaped his creative thinking. “I want to push the creative limits of what can be photographed, idea-wise. My inspirations are all from the world of make-believe, and translating them to real life is my next personal challenge,” he added.

The GMA Artist Center stars highlighted in the POP! Nostalgia photo exhibit are Rhian Ramos as a comic book superhero, Aljur Abrenica and Kris Bernal as Barbie & Ken, Jackie Rice as a ragdoll, Mark Herras as a mobster, Isabel Oli as an alien waitress, LJ Reyes and Ryza Cenon as Lenne and Yuna of Final Fantasy X-2, and Iza Calzado as a Stepford Wife. Also featured in the 12 concept photos are GMAAC’s Francine Prieto, Iwa Moto, Jewel Mische, Archi Munoz, Dominic Roco, Gino Dela Pena, John Feir, Joseph Marco, KC & Bebs Hollman, Rhea Nakpil, Shinina Juban, Stef Prescott, Stephanie Henares, Vaness Del Moral, Victor Aliwalas and Ysa Villar.

POP! Nostalgia will be on exhibit at SM Megamall’s Crucible Gallery from June 3 to June 15.

Each of the POP! Nostalgia images is a limited edition with only one copy for sale. Proceeds from 100% of the artist’s sales will go to the event beneficiary, Samaritan’s-Online, a charity that funds child-centric projects in and around the Payatas dumpsite in Quezon City.