The seeker in Orley Ypon

blurb:“…earth tones depict the somber mood of the subject…red background evokes a sense of urgency…”

Orley Ypon is mostly recognized for his fondness of details and love of human figure.

In his latest achievement, he cited that the country’s “long history of hardships and challenges is his primary inspiration in his prize-winning piece.”

After gaining attention for bagging the top prizes in the 2001 Art Association of the Philippines National On-the-Spot Painting Competition and the Art Petron National Painting Competitions in 2004 and 2005, as well as copping the 2nd prize in the GSIS painting tilt in 2008, he emerged as grand prize winner in the International Artist Magazine’s International Painting Competition (People and Figures Division) in 2009. His winning piece entitled “The Seekers” was featured in the December 2009/January 2010 issue.

“Our past is riddled with occupation and war. The present isn’t any better,” this he shared under the Art Prizes section of the said magazine.

“We are a country dealing with a reputation for corruption and lack of good governance. In spite of all the challenges the Filipino people encounter, I still believe in our resilience and fighting spirit,” Ypon stressed.

“Even though the country is plagued with political bickering and calamities, the people still manage to rise together from the grime and seek for the good,” he added. “Hope still prevails in the very heart of the Filipino.”

Ypon said that it is this “bottomless ability of the Filipino to stay positive even in the eye of the storm” which inspired him to come up with “The Seekers” on oil, composed on a 72 by 48” (182 x 121 cm) canvas, which won for him US$2000 and an official award certificate as Grand Prize Winner in the International Artist Mag’s Art Challenge No. 54.

Design strategy

“I decided to compose the painting with the figures moving in one direction to highlight their search for a goal,” Ypon pointed out, adding that, “stationary figures at the other end of the flow of figures act as a stopper to counter the movement, emphasizing the focal point and balancing the movement of the composition.”

The technique, according to him, also serves to keep the viewer’s attention to drift beyond the painting.

“I also focused on the figures’ anatomy and musculature to depict their struggle. For added impact, strength and depth, I utilized the effects of light and shadow. I worked with a limited palette of earth tones to depict the somber mood of the subject and added a red background to evoke a sense of urgency,” the artist from Toledo City went on.

Other techniques used were a fat-over-lean process, impasto and leaning towards a la prima to create fresh colors and brushstrokes.

Working process

“My models are my neighbors in Toledo City. They are fishermen, farmers, and construction workers, their physique gained from years of toiling the land. I immersed them in rice paddies, taking reference shots in daylight and in the dead of night using a single spotlight,” he explained.

“From the hundred of action shots, I chose the figures that conveyed the message and composed the painting on the canvas, adjusting the figure sizes to perspective. It was a never ending recomposing as each stage of the painting process unveiled better ways to compose the painting,” he further said.

Ypon is the first Hall-of-Famer in the history of the Art Petron painting competitions.

His “Ahon” piece in 2008 (GSIS painting tilt entry) is considered by peers and critics to be a “breakthrough creation for its adherence to traditional technique but showing depth and variety in the artists’ choice of subject and composition, showing an evocative nature previously unseen in his earlier work.”

His current creations, such as those in the recently concluded exhibit entitled “Enemy” mounted at the SM Megamall Art Center (from October 15-31), manifest the artist developing his objectives into themes that convey social issues, the human condition, and further expanding into new dimensions of his art.