Masters of Modernism: Angelito Antonio opens at Galerie Joaquin on July 12

Angelito Antonio is one of the most influential artists in the modern art movement in the Philippines. In this show, “Masters of Modernism: Angelito Antonio,” featured is an invigorated Antonio that has been freed from the rigid formula of earlier works.

 

The artworks presented in this exhibit are not the traditional Antonio paintings that the artist has come to be known for but are freer, more contemporary, looser and less inhibited in style. “Each piece that I finished for this show is different. I was challenged to give my old themes a new outlook and a new twist and I am pleased to say that I am very happy with these pieces,” he notes.  

 

Antonio’s work, due to its nascent cubism, has often been compared to those of National Artist Vicente Manansala, who was Antonio’s composition professor at the University of Santo Tomas. But although Manansala’s cubist distortions kept a vigilant eye towards classical anatomy, Antonio’s are far more aggressive. What Antonio has done for this show is take his fifty-year experience as a visual artist to revisit old themes such as vendors, cock fighters, mother and child motifs. The resultant works are new visual images with strong textural effects thereby providing the viewer with an entirely new experience.

 

This exhibit is most timely considering that the ranks of Philippine modernist masters continue to thin.  Gone are Victorio Edades and the Thirteen Moderns as well as Federico Aguilar Alcuaz, Jose Joya and Ang Kiukok. Among the last remaining pillars of Modernism are Arturo Luz, Bencab, Sanso and Malang. More than ever, there is a need to give focus to the second wave of modernist master which includes Antonio Austria, Justin Nuyda, Norma Belleza, Mario Parial and Angelito Antonio.

 

It is to acknowledge their contribution to Philippine art that Galerie Joaquin has put together a set of shows titled Masters of Modernism and this series premieres with one of the most deserving if not the most senior of this group of modernist masters, Angelito Antonio. 

 

Angelito Antonio (b. 1939) has an art career that spans half a century. Studying visual art at the University of Santo Tomas (UST). His teachers at UST included Manansala and Galo Ocampo, Antonio has more than twenty local and international awards to his credit. Some of these awards include the Grand Prize (1964) and 3rd Prize (1963) of the AAP’s annual art competition, and 2nd Prize at the Shell Art Awards (1962). His last major one man show was in 1988, making this show something to look forward to. Included in this exhibit are four sets of drawings with three to four paintings per set and his 12 monochromatic black and white paintings which Antonio first showed at the Luz gallery in 1977.  Already an immense figure in the history of Philippine visual art, Antonio is one of the pillars of Philippine art to adhere to Modernism’s core tenet of dynamic expression.

Masters of Modernism: Angelito Antonio opens at Galerie Joaquin Main, 371 P. Guevarra st., San Juan on Friday, July 12, 2013 and runs until July 22. Visit the Galerie Joaquin website or call (02) 7239418 or (02) 7239253.

Press release and photos from Galerie Joaquin