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HE
asserts that he is “not trying to bring back the past,”
simply “challenging history” in the use of old subject
matter in a modern artistic realm. He is not bothered
when people say realism is passé, and portraiture, where
he excels, no longer excites attention.
To prove
his point, artist Romulo Galicano, in collaboration with
an equally world-class Filipino talent, Patis Tesoro, is
mounting an exhibit for more than two months at the
Metropolitan Museum of Manila, aptly titled Postura.
The
exhibit, which opens Thursday evening (June 19) and
runs till August 30, has drawn the support of quite a
significant number of patrons—including major sponsors
Milagros T. Ong-How and Prudential Guarantee and
Assurance Inc.—who believe in what these two artists are
trying to convey with their work.
A
product of the University of the East, Galicano
unabashedly proclaims his admiration for the works of
the generation of Fernando Amorsolo, whose paintings
have brought to thousands of homes the pristine beauty
and joy of the scenery and people in the Philippine
countryside.
In
Galicano’s case, he has constantly deemed it his
challenge to keep asking how, as a contemporary artist,
one brings over one’s work to the realm of modern art,
considering his fascination with subjects occasionally
dismissed as part of a “bygone era.”
One
distinct trait of Galicano’s works is the use of
vertical lines which run through them, which he explains
is meant to add a new dimension to figurative art and
portraiture.
For his
Filipino series, Galicano has been collecting photos of
old scenes and people at various flea markets for
old/antique items.
In the
cover of the exhibit invitation, he painted a woman who
looks like his daughter, wearing the baro’t saya
and holding two coconuts.
Dominga
at 16 is another interesting piece, showing a young lass
(modeled after the mother of Ambassador Antonio L.
Cabangon Chua) holding a long bamboo pamingwit used for
fishing, as she stands by a riverbank—her black, round
eyes like limpid pools of serenity staring directly at
the viewer.
In 2004,
Galicano first joined the Portrait Society of America,
which screened more than 1,000 entries from 14
countries, and got as far as getting a Merit award. On
his second attempt, Galicano went home with the Grand
Prize.
The Met
exhibit that opens Thursday evening will feature 62
Galicano works and about two dozen dresses from Tesoro,
including several of her prized dolls (standing at two
feet each) garbed in all sorts of stunning Filipiniana
dresses.
Indeed,
the talented duo is not trying to bring back the
past—more important, they are bringing us back to the
past, like tired souls needing to draw water from a
river of a world truly blessed. |
