'Abstraction': Filipino artists explore new art trend of integrating viewers into canvases

MANILA, Philippines — With the rise and stay of “abstraction,” or a form of modern art that uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition with a degree of independence from visual references in the world, artists have resorted to using a bigger canvas to express themselves.

As a result, viewers are engulfed by the sheer scale of the art. This translates art viewing into an overwhelming experience, where the painting becomes a location where the viewer can find himself situated in.

With walls that could accommodate oversized works, Art Lounge Manila has presented “Monumental Abstracts” by Anna de Leon, Francis Nacion Jr., Louie Ignacio, Jonathan Dangue, Ricky Francisco, Melissa Yeung Yap and 0270501.  

“Monumental Abstracts” presents different expressions of abstraction in a large scale. The diversity of subjects and inspirations show how color, composition, balance, movement and sheer size present a welcome alternative to narrative for aesthetic delectation. The art exhibit also marks a point of expansiveness, as our society is opening up to the new normal and a break from being cooped up for so long in our own homes.

Using canvases with one side more than 10 feet, with most using 16 feet, the exhibit has been born out of the thrill of creating something memorable and impactful, like an explosion of pent-up energies from being so cooped up in their respective homes for so long.

One of the artists is Anna de Leon, who garnered an honorable mention in the GSIS 2010 competition for abstraction. She has since focused on figuration and is known for her pastel paintings of flowers and birds. The exhibition is a welcome return for her in finding expression without narrative elements that she often relies on in figuration. Focusing on composition, her work is as neat, tidy and balanced like the interior design projects she is also known for- showcasing her mastery of color, form, balance, and movement. Anna de Leon has been the president of the important Saturday Group of Artists, and her paintings and sculptures are in many important private and institutional collections.  

Creating his oversized work while listening to Handel’s "Messiah" (the Hallelujah chorus in particular), is film and TV director Louie Ignacio, who found emotional release through the frenetic splashes and drips he did to create the work. Using not only his whole arm, but his whole body in the process, the gestural strokes he used were simultaneously liberal and liberating, matching the energy of the music and creating something equally majestic. Ignacio has been painting for the past decade and has had numerous successful solo exhibitions.

Jonathan Dangue, whose technique is a synergy of painterly drips done with both planning and intuition, is all about balancing both planned order and intuitive discovery. Dangue’s intimate familiarity of his material enables him to create tonalities, patterns, and form using a combination of watery and thick acrylic in a variety of techniques. A licensed architect and sculptor, he is the only back to back grand prize winner of both categories in the Metrobank Art and Design Competition to date. 

Also integrating intuition into his sunset-inspired work is Ricky Francisco, who has taken to painting recently after more than two decades of museum work and a decade of curatorial work. His fascination for light has allowed him to explore both bright color and light-reacting metallic and iridescent paints. Using the horizontality of the canvas, Francisco presents an abstraction of a sunset, a favorite subject of his in his many photos taken during the lockdown. For him, sunsets are glorious and awe-inspiring as they allow for the light of the sun to be seen in various colors quite different from when the sun is high in the celestial sphere. 

For his mural-sized work, well-known and sought-out artist Francis Nacion takes a short break from his rich, highly detailed figurative work to revisit to a textile-inspired series he focused briefly almost a decade ago, as a tribute to his mother who loved to sew. Using textile-inspired patterns as the compositional device for his abstraction, Nacion introduces a color field and diaphanous layers to his richly detailed sgraffito oeuvre, and focuses his attention to composition using sewing-inspired elements that remind viewers of textiles, patches, stitches, and thread overlaid and assembled into a central image that is compositionally balanced and yet full of movement.

Two other artists who are inspired by textile and actually include them in their works are Melissa Yeung Yap and the artist who prefers to refer to himself as 0270501.

Melissa Yeung Yap integrates t’nalak, a woven textile made from Philippine abaca by the T’boli, into her mural-sized work. The flowing flowery organic forms are complemented by flat and folded t’nalak, creating a highly textured, nearly bas relief, painting. 

0270501, whose works integrate abaca fabric sourced from Bicol, references the Japanese gutai. His work focuses on the relationship between material, spirit and freedom, as well as contemporary aesthetics, while using the highly traditional and utilitarian abaca fabric. By sticking to earth tones for his palette, 0270501’s work also remind us of the relationship of the art scene to the largely agricultural geographic majority of our country. 

“Monumental Abstracts” is on view at Art Lounge Manila: Molito until April  30.

The art installation as a pilgrimage experience

After mounting the very first art installation "Portraits of Christ" in Intramuros since the global pandemic started, “Artist on a Mission” Kristine Lim transforms the exhibit into something more thought-provoking, and intriguing to coincide with the Holy Week celebration. As a missionary visual artist, known for being bold and unapologetic when it comes to having no dissociation between her art and her faith, she evolved “Portraits of Christ” into its sequel she calls “Tetelestai."

According to Lim, “it is a personal reminder for a sinner like me, who keeps on failing and falling in the mundane, to ask the Lord to help my unbelief. It is a personal reflection I want to extend to others who are also going through life’s adversities. I pray we always find that confidence in Him to overcome our fears, insecurities, and uncertainties. We must live a life that’s completely free because we are forgiven through the Love that’s beyond what our mind and hearts can conceive.” 

Creating a deeper experience for the art installation is the musical score composed by, “Mr. MUSIC” Jonathan Manalo, the Creative Director of ABS-CBN Music. According to Lim, Manalo’s music was able to capture the soul and spirit of “Tetelestai” that visitors will be able to communicate with the Divine through wordless interactions. She believes deeply rooted and honest emotions and even prayers are articulated in such ways. Most of the time, no words are perfect to equate for and suffice their full expression. 

In “Tetelestai," we see a Lighted Crucifix, lying on the floor, illuminating the tunnel of Barluartillo de San Francisco Javier. Scattered around it are pieces of discarded twigs and junk leading people to step on the cross as it’s the only safe way for them to navigate through the dark tunnel, noted exhibition curator Ian Belleza.

"Through this installation, we are reminded of the significance of the cross… that despite the sufferings that Jesus bore while carrying it, the cross is a symbol of our way to the Lord’s kingdom. And when our mission in this borrowed life is done, we will find ourselves in the Lord’s embrace," he said.

The art installation was on view at the Baluartillo de San Francisco Javier, Fort Santiago, Intramuros, Manila until April 20.

"Every year, many would prove the fortitude of their belief to the Lord by sacrifice and penitence as their ultimate expression of steadfast faith. However, are these expressions of resounding worship a demand from Christ for those He love? Is this pleasing to Him? Is this what He has called us to do?," Lim said in part as a statement to her work.

"Though our sacrifices are done with pure intention, may we allow ourselves to worship openly, and with acceptance and full certitude that there is no amount of ritual or traditional rites we can do to save us for Jesus Christ has already done that for us. He was the only acceptable and perfect sacrifice and none of us is worthy to take His place. He traded heaven for us so we are able to eternally breathe with His own breath. We are saved not by our works but by faith. It is futile to recreate, reenact or replicate what only one Being has the power, capacity, and incomparable Love for all who rejected Him can do.

"Believers, be reminded of what is written, with the worst humiliation and pain anyone can experience, Christ took His last breath on a cross in a body that was mangled and tortured beyond recognition. He died, rose again and ascended into heaven. Death no longer has mastery over Him, making everyone who accepts Him as Lord and Savior free and forgiven so their lives can begin. 

"This Holy Week, Let the cross remind you that the One who shed His life on it is our Bridge to our Father; the only Way and the only Truth where we can find our Life. I encourage you to walk on it, stand on it and experience the life that you can have when you have Jesus in you.

"May 'Tetelestai' guide you towards a much deeper relationship with Christ. Walk on the path He has laid down for us. Journey with Him for He is no longer on the cross but He is Risen to live with you, to live for you, to live in you. Come to Him with confidence on His work that was done for you. We are perfectly Loved. IT IS FINISHED," she said.

The exhibit, said Manalo, is an apt reminder that we all need.

"I’m grateful that the Lord allowed for such a beautifully breathtaking yet bold and brave art installation to be mounted in a very timely season. This has been inspiring and honoring for both me and Kristine for we know it is what we are called to do for this very specific moment, especially for the country," he said.
 
"Creating the music for Kristine’s art installation convicted me to reflect God’s grace in its melody. While people walk on the narrow path I hope the Divine’s message, whispered with my prayer in between the notes of my composition, ushers them through their experience. I hope they fully realize the very reason for all that was done for us. May they unrestrictedly embrace what God has been waiting for us to receive from Him; a gift most have been failing to recognize, or have intentionally rejected."

According to him, perhaps, the beauty of the whole exhibition is the urgency of its purpose and message.  

"Your salvation is in Christ and it has always been there. The only thing missing is your acceptance. Take it fully as how it was intended by Him. Ililigtas ka Niya!"

RELATED: Artist Kristine Lim opens 'Portraits of Christ' art installation in Intramuros