Strokes and Silhouettes features Michael Cacnio and Dominic Rubio’s “Enduring Traditions”

Power Plant Mall and Galerie Joaquin present two artists who lead the crop of Philippine modernists. This week, Focus on the Arts: Strokes and Silhouettes features “Silhouettes of Enduring Traditions” The two-man exhibition features two of the most representative character artists in their respective mediums tightly collaborating and working together in an unprecedented exhibition. These are sculptor Michael Cacnio and painter Dominic Rubio.

Together, they collaborated on unique works that integrated Rubio’s renowned colonial character portraits – with their signature elongated necks – with Cacnio’s monumental sculptures of Philippine traditions and practices. Both artists have exhibited widely both in the country and abroad, and have gained acclaim in their respective practices. Dominic Rubio, a graduate of the Fine Arts program of the University of Santo Tomas, recently unveiled an important mural on Philippine-US relations at the Philippine Embassy in Washington DC.

Cacnio, on the other hand, is a product of the College of Fine Arts at the University of the Philippines, and is a 2006 Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) awardee. Individually, both are among the most sought-after artists in the Philippines. Their collaborative effort is due to a unique understanding of the temperament of genre art. Fast friends, this exhibition is a continuation of this unprecedented series of integrated works.

“Silhouettes of Enduring Traditions” will run at the North Court of Power Plant Mall at Rockwell Center in Makati City from Sunday 13 August to Saturday 19 August 2017 as part of the larger Focus on the Arts festival with a Closing Reception on Saturday, August 19 at 4 p.m.

At the Concourse Level of the same week is Genre Art exhibit, “Nostalgie” featuring works by painters Richard Arimado, Averil Paras, Aljo Pingol, and Benjie Mallari. The exhibition features related themes of memory and nostalgia in the context of Philippine history. Richard Arimado paints his subjects in the act of looking up, pausing to examine the audience staring down at them. His vision of turn-of-the-century motifs shows a sense of nostalgic national pride and the intricacies of our cultural past.

Averil Paras on the other hand features market themes and portrait like renderings with a vintage feel while Aljo Pingol’s paintings and sculptures uses his sense of classical composition to evoke nostalgic scenes of what he himself is most proud of in a bright and colorful way.  The practice of Benjie Mallari uses the idea of urban or rural genre in depicting an idyllic remembering of what the Philippines was at its peak.  His paintings reflect the different characters that make up Filipino society from the lens of a specific time in history.