Galerie Joaquin is honored to present “5 Masters,” an exhibition bringing together the works of Raul Isidro, Norberto Carating, Edwin Wilwayco, Carlo Magno and National Artist Federico Aguilar Alcuaz. The show demonstrates the progression of Philippine Modern and Contemporary Art as it has borne the imprint of the Abstract art movement from the ‘50s to the present day.
On view will be a selection of rare, never before exhibited abstract works by National Artist Federico Aguilar Alcuaz (1932-2011), whose voluminous contribution to Philippine art history continues to shape the course of contemporary art to this day. Working primarily in the Cubist tradition, the master’s oeuvre pioneered new modes of seeing, perceiving and imaging the physical world.
Taking a more abstract expressionist approach, Raul Isidro’s (b. 1943) works take cues from his idyllic childhood. Earning him a Ten Outstanding Young Men award in 1979, the 2006 Outstanding Thomasian Award, and the 2011 Outstanding Samareño Award among other distinctions, Isidro’s fluid brushwork and tonal sensibility capture all at once the abidance of the artist’s bucolic memories, and the constancy of a changing landscape.
A representative of the movement for over four decades, Thirteen Artists Awardee Norberto ‘Lito’ Carating (b. 1948) is most known for his non-representational art that bespeaks his mastery of balance, structure, and symmetry. Carating translates the experience of material reality down to its essence, finding expression primarily in geometric forms and metallic pigments that endow each composition with a distinctly meditative quality.
Highlighting his signature bold and vibrant hues, Edwin Wilwayco (b. 1952) demonstrates his mastery of color and texture, with which he imbues in each piece with an entrancing musicality. The artist, who worked under the tutelage of National Artist Josí¨ Joya as a student at the University of the Philippines, has since become a fixture in the development of abstract art in the country, defining a distinct language for the artful articulation of space and atmosphere.
The show also presents Carlo Magno’s (b. 1960) mixed media compositions. He is best known for his mixed media abstracts and figurative artworks and sculptures. Initially establishing himself as a hyper-realist, in his forty years working in the country’s art scene, Magno’s body of works has come to embody a practice marked by constant change and evolution.
Though it began as a movement that met great resistance, overturning all the rules that had dominated traditional art practice, Abstract art has come to define the lexicon of Philippine Modern and Contemporary Art. The works of Alcuaz, Isidro, Carating, Wilwayco and Magno not only testify to the movement’s lasting impact on the country’s arts landscape but demonstrate how it has consistently and unwaveringly redefined itself through the ages, as it will no doubt continue to for generations to come.
The exhibition will run from September 8 to 17, 2022 at Galerie Joaquin Rockwell, which is located at R3 Level, Power Plant Mall, Rockwell Center, Makati.
