Filipino artist Jonathan Olazo’s latest art exhibition “Light Receptacle Café” is a beautiful reimagining of French master Claude Monet’s devotion to light and time, filtered through a contemporary Filipino lens.
The show, which opened last October 18 at the Alliance Française de Manille, is a testament to Olazo’s distinct artistic voice.
Olazo explores the enduring fascination with luminosity that one of the founding fathers of Impressionism championed through his layered acrylic and mixed-media works.
Curated by his wife, painter conservator Lyn Yusi-Olazo, the exhibition invites visitors to experience light not just as a subject, but as a metaphor.
Olazo’s process, as described by his curator, is as dynamic as his art. He gathers nuances and signs from his daily life and his surroundings, bringing them into his paintings. He even approaches art like a music DJ, sampling visual cues and collaging them onto his canvases.
Art patrons were quick to applaud the artist’s daring and personal vision. Rosita Lara “Otty” Lumagui, managing director of Worldwide Resource Solutions Philippines Inc. and CEO of Bocca, the event’s food sponsor, praised how Olazo’s “creations oscillate between a vigorous masculinity and a delicate femininity, entirely dependent on the viewer’s register and interpretation.”
AFM executive director Olivier Dintinger noted how the powerful paintings transported him back to Paris and the Musée Marmottan, where he first admired Monet’s work.
Dr. Eric Zerrudo, executive director of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, connected the work to art history, citing the discourse of how Filipino heroes encountered Impressionism in Paris in the 19th century. He praised Olazo for capturing the same phenomenon of “light and temporality.”
Architect and art advocate Michael “Mico” Liwanag shared that he has witnessed Olazo “grow as an artist, always pushing boundaries,” noting that his work ethic is an inspiration.
Olazo is not only influenced by French painting but also by French intellectual life. He is a fan of French critics and writers, especially Roland Barthes and Charles Baudelaire. He cites Baudelaire’s studies on modern life and the concept of the flaneur – someone who finds poetry and beauty in the mundane.
Olazo also finds beauty in the photographs he took around Metro Manila, drawing a comparison between those images and the “calm and majesty” of Monet’s famous works.
The exhibition is a must-see for those who appreciate abstraction, movement, and the philosophical musings found in the passage of time.
Olazo’s work allows the audience to experience what happens when light is allowed to tell its own stories.
The “Light Receptacle Café” runs until November 15 at the Alliance Française de Manille, 209 Nicanor Garcia Street, Bel-Air II, Makati City.
For inquiries, email cultural.afmanille@gmail.com. — SEYMOUR SANCHEZ
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