For “Instincts”, Eufemio Rasco IV’s hybrid anthropoids invite the viewer to have an instinctive and primal reaction that examines the essence of the human psyche.
The complexity of nature allows humans to dominate animals while at the same time love, revere, and celebrate them. Humans identify as divergent from animals while also identifying with them more than anything else on earth. Recognizing these contradictions, Rasco skews these animals’ designated classifications, encouraging the viewer to contemplate their individual identity, and to celebrate the hybridization and broadening definitions of identity, distinction, and personality.
As a visual artist, Rasco draws attention to the luminous skin of his subjects– whose faces exude a mysterious yet calm appearance. They can be described as approachable, dignified, even majestic. The viewer connects to an intimate relationship with humanity in the artwork, and then identifies with the animal or animal carcass, acknowledging the feral inheritance within the human condition.
For thousands of years, humans have evolved culturally but physically have not changed in significant ways. Its identities, therefore, have conflicting impulses: desiring both a civilized, culturally advanced life, and an intuitive, instinctive and fearless life. The fusion of human and animal that Rasco creates suggests that the human condition is fully realized when one acknowledges his or her current state and natural instincts. Rasco emphasizes the characteristics that differentiate man within the animal kingdom, and, importantly, the uniting factor between the two.
Eufemio Rasco IV (b.1981) attended the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts to major in Studio Arts (Painting) before moving on to Philippine Women’s University Institute of Fine Arts and Design, also to study Painting.
The youngest among 13 siblings, Rasco was free to explore his artistic gift. His parents Eufemio Rasco Sr. and Priscilla Abad Rasco supported him completely when he chose a career in the arts. Already an achiever in his grade school years, he bagged a silver medal for submitting an entry on the traditional Filipino way of life in the Asian’s Children Art Contest in Japan. Back then, his little pleasures were sketching quick portraits of his father’s friends during gatherings, for which they would reward him with a small amount.
Eufemio Rasco IV is well known for his stark alabaster nudes draped in striking red, blue, deep green or black. The women in his works never look directly at the viewer. With faces averted or head bent down, the figures direct the eye to take in the entire scene then zero in on the palpable tension in the subject’s pose vis-a’-vis the sensuous way the drapery falls.
Rasco’s works have done well in auction houses such as Borobudur, Larasati, and Sotheby’s.
“Instincts” by Eufemio Rasco IV will be on view from November 20 — 30, 2021. Galerie Joaquin U.P. Town Center is located at 2/F Phase 2 U.P. Town Center, Katipunan Ave., Diliman, Quezon City.
