Recently, Araos sent colorful handcrafted pop up invitations to the unveiling of his latest coined creation, "Kasalikasan" (meaning kasali ka sa kalikasan), an exquisite garden in what is swiftly emerging as a forest of concrete skyscrapers, including the Essensa Bldg. of I.M. Pei, the first ever in the country. Owing to its strategic location, it conditions people to give nature that much-needed second look, take part in its awesome unfolding, and take full and responsible cognizance of it in a highly urban landscape.
The experience is quite akin to walking down Manhattan avenues lined with towering structures uptown to Central Park, the great oasis of both botanical and zoological life in the very heart of one of the most urbanized places in the world, New York City.
"Kasalikasan" covers a ground area of 3,556 square meters across the de Jesus Oval and beside the Pacific Plaza Tower. Minimally inscribed on a marble slab fronting the oval is Araos’ paean to trees. As a marker, it auspiciously prepares the viewer what to expect within its confines.
Like its equally robust cousin in Antipolo, Araos’ "Kasalikasan" is not the usual garden of manicured and well-trimmed lawns, more often than not carpeted by Bermuda grass and peppered with tiny pieces of sculpture, or if one may be literally kitschy about it, the whole caboodle of the seven dwarves sans Snow White.
Rather, Araos’ creation is a lush habitat of the natural growth of trees, plants, shrubs, and rock formations, with rivulets of water rambling within. There is no front, back, or lateral view of the garden. The garden, in essence, is multi-view as it is multi-dimensional in scope and multi-directional in approach. It is as if an expanse of greens suddenly pops up in the middle of the global city, where as the earth moves in graceful undulation, so are the growths that sprout from it.
In other words, there is nothing imposed in the land. Even those big and tall narra trees that Araos had to ball prior to transplanting them where they are now give that lofty feeling they have unexpectedly sprung in the site to cast their generous and magnificent shade. It is an endearing blend of Godspace and humanspace. Everything is interactive – the plants with the people, the people with the building, the building with the garden as an ensemble. And the cycle goes on.
"Kasalikasan," as the term implies, is a living sculpture. Araos’ chief material is the earth itself which he chisels with the use of his backhoe loader. Then he throws in sand, stones, pebbles, ornamental plants, fruit-bearing trees, water and other materials to forge a natural propagation. In this case, "Kasalikasan" is one of becoming. It gives birth to myriad forms through time and space. In more ways than one, therefore, it is process art where Araos generously incorporates the rhythms, patterns and behavior of nature within the work.
Through land or earth art, or however one may wish to label it, Araos is able to broaden the accepted boundaries of sculpture, making the environment not merely the context but the material for the work itself.
Specifically, "Kasalikasan" is meant for the outdoor. As site specific, it comprises not just a group of discrete objects to be viewed individually but an entire environment. Thus, it enriches the audience with the experience of being surrounded by art.
Harnessing some 200 species of local indigenous and hybrid flora like the centennial hyacinths named after prominent Filipinos, tea plants, sanchezias, papuas, gardenias, and other fruit and flower bearing plants, Araos blends handsomely iridescent colors of yellows, reds, violets, oranges in a blanket of green. In other words, compared to other gardens that are predominantly green, "Kasalikasan" bursts in a kaleidoscope of colors that is unprogrammed, and therefore freeform. For isn’t natural beauty always unrehearsed?
To experience "Kasalikasan," it is best to tread the park barefoot. One has to amble through the garden to feel the varied ground carpets and experience the textures of carabao grass, sand, pebbles, basalt stones, or simply the earth.
Not all is at once revealed to the promenader, or the nature lover and rover. Breezing through comfortable uphill and downhill garden steps, one experiences various levels and vantage views. Tracing the meandering pebbled or gravel pathways, one discovers engaging nooks and crannies, like the amphitheater, the mandala-inspired sitting area, the appropriation of the Bontoc dap-ay for a light chat, and the ponds where lotuses and fish cavort in wanton abandon.
Araos offers "Kasalikasan" to people who need the park, whether one group has a need for it as a venue for such diverse activities as concert, poetry recital, art events, tête-à-tête, group discussions, or brainstorming sessions. Or depending on the mood of the moment, a trysting place for lovers. Or a quiet spot for contemplation or reflection for the solitary, if not simply to smell the scent of earth.
"Kasalikasan" is there for the quaffing, sensate and enabling!