Alchemy

Mixing Color, Shape, Space, Texture, Line Value, Form, etc.

January 14 – February 2, 2020

Opening Reception
Tuesday, January 14, 2020 | 6 PM – 9 PM

Arte Bettina
3rd Level, Greenbelt 5, Ayala Center, 1224 Makati

Arte Bettina’s first exhibition for 2020 features the most exciting abstract artists in the Philippines today: Andre Baldovino, J Consunji, Fitz Herrera, Binong Javier, Niccolo Jose, Rico Lascano, Marlon Magbanua, Coeli Manese, Kenneth Montegrande, Dennis Morante, Josep Pascual, Michael Pastorizo, Sal Ponce Enrile, Jay Ragma, Eddie Santillan, and Meneline Wong. With their creations, it is truly an unforgettable experience in immersing viewers’ sensibilities with a finely-curated selection of non-representational art.

As Binong Javier’s miniscule drops of pigment gather to create spectrums of colors, Fitz Herrera’s palette knife-dabbed impastos offer a more random and varied assortment of applications. Dennis Morante’s diced, squared and boxy blocks of color are connected by freeform swirls, while Eddie Santillan’s elongated glazes convey the fragility of tissue and opaque ribbons. Marlon Magbanua’s neutral renderings of random patterns calm in their blacks, whites and greys, spattered with energetic splashes and graphic lines. Josep Pascual playfully pours his paints on canvas, creating grey tinged tones that soothe. These may be, in turn, considered as magnified and given more stringent boundaries and sharp edges in the color-filled works of J Consunji.

Inspirations from nature are implied but never forced, as in Rico Lascano’s minimal applications of leaf-like images that resemble light feathers and windblown stalks. These contrast with Michael Pastorizo’s paintings of what seem to be petals or hollowed impressions on bark, rising up the canvas in full coverage. Niccolo Jose’s sculptural pieces follow the form of wood and trees, firmly planted in their very own pieces of earth. A veritable garden may be found in Sal Ponce Enrile’s fantastic portrayal of an imaginary landscape, replete with glimpses of land, water, and even walls. Meneline Wong’s fluid art experimentations are reminiscent of ocean waves, with accidental patterns invoking minerals and layers of stone. In Kenneth Montegrande’s pieces, landforms seem to rise amidst the clouds, creating dreamlike vistas and unexplored realms.

Alchemy is usually associated with magic, but Late Greek and Arabic etymologies of the word describe the process of transmutation or transformation, much like the artists of today who use their creativity to alter perceptions of image-making. With a collection of selected materials, alchemists were tasked to produce the philosopher’s stone, a legendary substance capable of turning common metals into gold or silver. Ambitions of immortality require it as the elixir of life, as it symbolizes reinvigoration and the illumination of one’s perceptions, all towards to road to eternal happiness and heavenly bliss. Even the process in trying to discover the philosopher’s stone, known as the Magnum Opus, or Great Work, is associated with art production. It is no small wonder, then, that artists may be considered as the alchemists of this time, taking on their meticulous mixtures of form, medium and expression in the creation of objects that serve as legacies to future generations.