Raul H. Lebajo presents his recent works in Shades of Green at the ArtistSpace of the Ayala Museum on December 6, 2018, Thursday, at six o’clock in the evening.
An exhibition one year in the making, the highly anticipated show features a fresh view into the phantasmagorias and fantastic worlds fashioned by the prolific mind and dynamic brushwork of one of the most respected masters of his generation.
Drawing inspiration from organic forms that embellish both his artistic career and his life beyond the canvas, Lebajo grants his viewers a glimpse of otherworldly creatures and mystical realms in his latest offering. Lush foliage drips from caged trellises, form a spherical bouquet, or enmesh themselves in tufts of tall grass and blooms. Sprouting, growing and surrounding a motley cast of characters with sprigs and boughs growing out of their heads, sporting leafy spectacles, looking through brambles, or frolicking in fairy forests, vines and swirls of outlandish plant life rooting them on canvas, the artist creates new life forms undocumented in all known botanical tomes.
His fruits are voluptuous and heavy, laden with fertile meaning and promise. His flowers have worlds built in to their centers, with life radiating through. Birds, butterflies and worms take on different forms noble, unfamiliar and unclassifiable. An all-knowing figure confronts head on, his own features resembling strange spacecraft shapes. Lebajo in Shades of Green introduces a secret menagerie of reinvented beings, proving the abundance of his passion for paint and color, and the boundlessness of his art. Exuberance pour out of his vibrant hues as his new creations germinate with efflorescence and the promise of existence sprightlier than ours.
Shades of Green is presented by Art Farm, White Walls Gallery, Dreamnaxis Photography and Carlo Rossi, with media partners Experience Travel & Living, Business Mirror, Modedevi and Philippines Graphic.
ArtistSpace is located at the ground level of the Ayala Museum Annex, Makati Avenue corner De La Rosa Street, Greenbelt Park, Makati City, 1224 Philippines. Venue is open from 10AM to 7PM, Monday to Sunday. Exhibition runs until December 19 and entrance is free to the public.
Text by: Kaye Oyek
Photo by: Nazarene Castillo