Acting as markers along his artistic unfolding, Boholano artist Lucell Larawan’s acrylic mixed media paintings in his sixth solo exhibition play as metaphors that ply between his aspiration and desire for freedom and rootedness. 

The artist’s aspiration for freedom is best demonstrated through his recent explorations with thread as centripetal material that binds the set of paintings in the exhibition. He hammered a row of boat nails that outline the fringes of the canvas, around which he stringed mercerized cotton threads that criss-cross and hover above the pictorial space. Underneath these meshes of threads are landscapes and moments of personal meaning, the images of which evoke his desire for rootedness. Using his signature brilliant palette and stylized patterns, he animated selected scenes from his home province, childhood memories, past experiences, and dreams.

In the past years, Larawan has been employing a style he calls “neo-pointillist.” Departing from the conventional pointillist method wherein figures are partially created through the illusion of discreteness made by dots placed close to each other, he is now more interested in exploring the decorative potential of dots, together with other lines and shapes. A common figure in many of these works is a stylized bird—referred to at times as a phoenix, the Ibong Adarna, or a Mindanaoan sarimanok—which hints at abstract concepts such as beauty, flight of freedom, and the cycle of life, among others. In his latest solo exhibition, he furthered his artistic practice by integrating string art on his acrylic paintings, producing vibrant multimedia works.

“MAKINA”

Richard Buxani hems intergenerational narratives of women in the exhibition “MAKINA,”  centering on the sewing machine. The exhibit is under the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) Exhibition Grants Program and is a highlight of National Arts Month with the theme “Ani ng Sining, Bunga ng Galing.” 

Buxani reimagines and repurposes old sewing machines he collected over nearly a decade. He transmutes each piece into beautiful utilitarian forms and gives them new life. 

Eleazar Abraham “Abe” Orobia, the exhibition curator, says: 

“I wish to highlight Buxani’s processes in collecting, selecting, conceptualizing, and designing his pieces. I believe that compared to execution, this is the most challenging phase. His use of old sewing machines as benches makes it contemporary and exceptional. It is as if he is possessed or inspired by the muses of his art.”

For updates about the exhibition, please visit the sculptor’s page https://bit.ly/3QTCMe5