Electrifying home filled with art

There is something electrifying about this home belonging to a marketing executive of one of the country’s biggest companies. Electrifying and eclectic, those are two words that would appropriately describe this house filled with works of art. And by art, we don’t mean just canvases — though his are an interesting mix of expressionist and abstract — but also sculptures of different material, ranging from glass to steel to wire and ballpoint springs, with themes ranging from Greco Roman to subtracted human faces and even post-apocalyptic as the figure of a man in three sculptures looks like a fetus, reminding one of the last shot in Stanley Kubric’s

2001: A Space Odyssey.

Fade to black: Lao Lianben’s “Substance,” 2008, dominates this corner of the sitting room in this art-filled home owned by a corporate marketing executive. The chair is by B&B Italia.

What before was a condominium unit in Makati with two bedrooms is now one big open space with one bedroom. The bedroom wall is not really a solid wall, but is actually made of sliding doors to reveal a flat-screen TV hanging from the ceiling. The design of the bracket and support was so specific because it carried a function: the TV in the bedroom can be swung 180 degrees so that it can be seen from the living room and dining room.

No, the homeowner is not a TV addict (he is a bookworm, specifically books on art, architecture, and design), but he is a bachelor who often has his family, his nieces and nephews come to visit and they love to watch TV and DVDs.

Before he laid his hands and creative mind on this house, it looked like a bachelor’s pad —  thick carpeting, solid walls and, well, generally lacking in good taste. And that just wouldn’t do. He had the carpeting removed and replaced it with engineered hard wood in alabaster.  

Atlas shrugged: One of the most powerful artworks in the house is this wire sculpture by Gabby Barredo, “Man in Fetal Position,” a permutation of Auguste Rodin’s “The Thinker.” The sculpture is hanging from a steel sculpture by Reggie Yuson, “Circle of Gravity.” Both modern artworks are atop a Roman column , a mixing of periods and themes that recur throughout the house. The dining set is from B&B Italia, the sculpture by Ramon Orlina. The homeowner has four Orlina sculptures, not a single one in his signature green. The hanging Swarovski Christmas ornaments — Swarovski releases one design annually — were bought on eBay. Photos by WALTER BOLLOZOS

The artwork that will strike you upon entering the living space is a life-size sculpture by Gabby Barredo called “Man in Fetal Position.” It reminds one of Auguste Rodin’s “The Thinker” sculpture in Paris. 

It is one of the recurring themes in this home as he has various permutations of Rodin’s sculpture, one in crystal by Michael Houplain from Daum, France, called “Le Penseur”; another in Lladro porcelain by Ernest Lasseut called “Scientia.”

“I’m happy I have so many thinkers in my company,” he says.

Leaf and right: With its back patterned after the ornamental acanthus leaf, which was often used in Byzantine architecture, this chair was sourced by the homeowner from a local manufacturer. This painting by Gus Albor has a silver disc piercing the canvas. It holds a special place in the homeowner’s heart — “It was my first painting ever” — and was also featured in Albor’s book Immaterial.

But it is Barredo’s work that is most powerful, the man in upright fetal position so it actually looks like he is sitting with his hands above his head. But instead of conveying life, the body language expresses total defeat as he is encircled by a circular steel sculpture called “Center of Gravity” by Reggie Yuson (the steel is rusting right now, and that’s the way it’s supposed to be, he says). And it reminded me as well of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged.

Barredo’s figure of a man would be repeated in the bedroom. Called “The Swimmer,” the sculpture is made of wire with ballpoint springs stuck all around his body.

The homeowner tells me, “Gabby cast this sculpture from a real body. And the remarkable thing about this one is that you won’t find that point where two pieces of the cast meet.”

It is a strange and compelling piece of art floating above his work desk. Behind this desk is a wall filled with coffee table books on architecture, design and art, and several more sculptures of fallen angels and religious origins.

Swimming in art: What were previously two bedrooms have been turned into one suite with a study and a large bath. The wire sculpture, “The Swimmer,” by Gabby Barredo hovers above the homeowner’s work desk. It is made of wire with thousands of ballpoint springs piercing the life-size work. Above the bed is Lao Lianben’s “Writings of Water,” a 1995 work that was featured in the book At Home with Art and Artists.

Stranger still is that for many years Barredo refused to part with these particular sculptures. Then one day, the homeowner gets a call from Barredo. The artist wanted to sell them to him. Was Barredo a very close friend? No. Then why did he want to sell to you? He doesn’t know.

But he was happy about it. Privileged, even, that these works would be in his home.

These paintings, objects and artworks turn out to have common themes — abstracted human faces and forms, and angels,” he says. “The angels both in flight and fallen are maybe symbolic of my human struggle.”

The subject of pain, of struggle is repeated in a painting by Carlo Saavedra called “Panorama,” a horizontal Jesus Christ on the cross. He describes the artist as a “young painter who paints spontaneously.”

Head shots: The homeowner collects art glass sculptures — including ones by Bertil Vallien for Kosta Boda — and Greco-Roman busts.

It is a powerful picture, the paint bleeding onto the frame and yet balanced with and brought back to modernity by Flos’ Fucsia suspension lights. Lao Lianben and Gus Albor are also two artists whose works he collects. Lao’s “Writings of Water” hangs above his bed, and is one of his favorites.  

 “The abstracted ‘Writings of Water’ by Lao or the gestural strokes of Gus Albor were precursors of self-understanding as I appreciated the writings on the wall as they evolved to clearer, though still vague human abstractions,” he says.

Very two different sculptors also have several pieces in his house. He has four Ramon Orlina sculptures — but not a single one is in the sculptor’s signature green — “7310..Flight of Faith” and “The Color of Amber” are both amber glass, “Bird Watching” is black, and “Couple Inspiration is dark purple.”

He collects art for two reasons: because he loves it, and also because he believes that it’s a good investment.

Art books in an art-filled home: The customized bookcase carries coffee table books on art, architecture and design. On the top shelf are various angels — fallen, in flight, protective. The homeowner says they are symbolic of his own “human struggle.”

But he muses, “But at the end, these are all just objects that somehow mirror my soul, which is a continuing process of acquaintance and expression. I probably acquire them to express myself; to make it clearer who I am ... to myself mostly. But the painting or sculpture I will always look up to is Christ on the cross.”

The busts he collects are mostly of Greco Roman origin, many of them clustered on one shelf in his bedroom. He says, “Of the busts and architectural fragments, maybe I lived at that time and in that place in a previous life.”

Our homeowner likes things that last not just in art but also furnishings. The dining room and chairs, and sofas in his house are all B&B Italia.