L'arc en Ciel's 'Spring!' at Ayala Museum

MANILA, Philippines - The Ayala Museum will showcase the works of L’arc en Ciel atelier artists Alfred Galura, Stella Kim, Connie Quirino and Pilar L. Quiros, from March 6 to 19 in an exhibit titled “Spring!”

Bound together by the experiences of spring by the four artists, the exhibit is not so much about the season, especially since it is an alien season to the Philippines, but about the eloquence of feeling, in expressing it, and capturing it in the moving language of art.

Alfred Galura presents works in watercolor and pen and ink. His brass and copper gleam like newly-polished metals. Galura’s flowers are rendered with such photographic accuracy that it is hard to tell one is not looking at a photograph.  Whether it is a cluster of white or purple mums, the viewer can feel the softness of the petals and the grittiness of the leaves just by looking at Galura’s watercolors.

Stella Kim’s paintings speak of meticulous precision and discipline. Oil on canvas flower, fruit, person, animal: the subjects are rendered with realistic details, yet one is aware of looking at a painting, unlike the realism of Galura’s watercolors. The smooth transition of color gradients is masterful and Kim’s paintings project the resolution of a well-focused photograph.  Mostly still life, every rendering shows a play of geometric forms with clean, uncluttered look even on a canvas filled with objects. 

Connie Quirino’s canvas is like a child’s room surrounded by toys and meandering colours, a spring full of promise with play and discovery.  Her oils can display flowers in subtle tones (“A Burst of Spring”) or garden scenes with bold strokes and colours (“L’arc en ciel Fountain 1” and  “Statue of a Young Boy”).  In Lavender Field, the indecorous strokes are foiled by the symmetry of the painting, with lavenders in orderly rows and a pink roadway demarcating the greens from the purples. But even as Quirino is aware of symmetry, her strokes exhibit a characteristic playfulness that shuns rigidity.

Pilar Quiros has a keen sense of form and her canvas looks uncluttered even when done with bold colours. Her oils are rich but not disturbing.  Bright blooms (“Cosmos and Zinnias,” a “Study of Complementary Colors”) are like a burst of fireworks lighting up the blue sky, with lines balanced in all directions. 

The founder and owner of the L’Arc en Ciel atelier, Elaine Ongpin Herbosa will present the four artists at The ArtistSpace, second floor, Glass Wing, Ayala Museum, Greenbelt Park, Makati Ave. corner Dela Rosa Street, Makati City.

For information, call 0917-8901219 or e-mail elaineoherbosa@yahoo.com.ph.

Galura

The more than 10 pen-and-ink drawings depict a simple life in Pampanga, where Alfred Galura is from, but they convey the peace in the rhythm of ordinary life more than its hardships — simple scenes not drawn simply but with the complex marriage of thin and thick lines, creating values with an unforgiving medium: ink.

Quirino

Connie Quirino’s evolving style appears fueled by the exuberance of grappling with self-discovery reflected in her works. She recently attended a landscape workshop by American artist Jill Steinhuis in Aix en Provence and this, too, has greatly influenced her style.

Kim

The abundance of spring is exemplified in Stella Kim’s painting “Spring Harvest,” fecund with perfectly shaped eggs, luscious red tomatoes huddled with the green spring onions in front of a ceramic white pitcher, fresh garlic bulbs sitting with a chunk of pumpkin on a butcher block, and, in the middle of the arrangement, a big round pan raring to be struck like a gong.

Quiros

A faithful disciple of art, Pilar Quiros expresses herself while keeping in mind the rules of the discipline. In the autumn of 2009, she attended a workshop in Lenno, Lake Como, Italy conducted by Jerry Fresia, renowned Impressionist.  This has inspired her recent works, done in quick spontaneous strokes, all seemingly breathing with atmosphere.