Raul Isidro’s quest for gilded glory

The continuing evolution of veteran abstract artist Raul Isidro has taken an unexpected if serendipitous turn in his on-going exhibition of recent works – his 45th solo show to date – at the Ricco-Renzo Galleries. In this suite of 25 paintings, the artist invites the viewer to see the aesthetic prominence of gold as an entity, transcending both the subject and image, a distillation of the refinement of spirit that has distinguished his abstractions.

In these stunning works, which have been subsumed by the luxuriant color of gold, Isidro lays claim as among the most innovative abstractionist who continually pushes his art to what Roland Barthes calls "jouissance," or bliss, a state of sensorial fulfillment as a prelude to spiritual enlightenment.

In this series he calls Windows, Isidro peruses the gold leaf, an element that had previously surfaced in his early works, more particularly in his Festival series, and which has, time and again, resurfaced as a visual component freighted with the luxuries of color, line and pattern. Having finally succumbed to the all-consuming force of the gilded glory, he faced up the task with equal and reciprocal outburst of creative bravura.

As suggested by the exhibition title, the leitmotif of windows pervades through the works, as represented by these ubiquitous, square-shaped holes that have been rendered in starkly luminous black and flaming red, and appearing in varied sizes and random positions. The windows open up into the larger topographical and cosmogenic field, a kinetic element that disrupts the otherwise static proceedings of the entire image. Along with these windows, there is similarly the artist’s application of pigments and clots of color appearing in precariously inchoate positions as these multiply over the variegated visual fields.

Certainly not to be overlooked are the myriad patches upon patches of squares that echo and reinforce the more pervasive image of windows. In multi-layered fashion, with neon-like, shimmering forms, provide a logical extension of the thematic nucleus, the virtual nerve center as it were, of a frenzied and frantic field, revealing the infinite sweep of the expansive borders of Isidro’s sky-mind. Here, rendered in all its elegant complexity, the interplay of figure and space, color and form, sign and line, combines complexity, the interplay of figure and space, color and form, sign and line, combines and coalesces to create a living and pulsating whole.

Long fascinated by the gilding technique as practiced in Art Deco and its various transmutations in contemporary life, Isidro incorporates in these works his trademark calligraphic touches, revealing a deep-seated Asian sensibility that becomes more prominent in his circular and oval-shaped paintings. The artist’s followers will immediately identify the familiar hyperkinetic gestural brushstrokes in such works as "Asian Moon" and "Asian Wind" that signify the forces of nature amid a more contemplative self. Indeed, what finally emerges is the essence of the Asian soul being thrust into the welter of modern chaos and confusion in this age of globalization and cutting-edge technology.

His obsessive pursuit of the gilded image mirrors the Filipino’s own quest for a rightful place in the sun, a people deeply enamored with celebration and the celebrative details of life, and remaining stoic and steadfast in the midst of widespread socio-political malaise.

As a leading and influential artist and educator, and former dean of the Philippine Women’s University’s College of Fine Arts, Isidro has significantly contributed to the development of the visual arts in the country, through the various roles that he has assumed. With his unstinting devotion and dedication to his craft, coupled with his single-minded pursuit for the preeminence of the Filipino artist, Raul Isidro has opened doors and windows to many aspiring artists, a towering figure whose imagination and creative work have served as inspiration in their individual quest for the gilded glory.

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Raul Isidro’s solo show, Windows, runs until April 16 at the Ricco-Renzo Galleries, at the ground floor of LRI Business Plaza, 210 Nicanor Garcia St., Bel-Air II, Makati City. For inquiries, call 398-2542, 898-2543 and telefax 898-2545.