Dodong Arellano: From equine to human form
September 24, 2001 | 12:00am
Traditions die hard in the arts. In the Philippines, this becomes especially true when one scans through the great names that local art has produced.
Take for instance the name of Amorsolo vis-a-vis Philippine art. From the early 1900s of Fernando, first national artist for painting, to the present, the scene still boasts of artists bearing the name, this time led by Sylvia, the daughter. In the case of Abueva, Mulawin, the son, is now continuing the sculptural metier of Napoleon, national artist for sculpture.
Almost always, these second-generation artists continuing the legacy of established names before them in the firmament of Philippine art do well.
Salvador Arellano, son of the eminent painter and architect Juan Arellano, can glowingly attest to this fact. Once in the shadow of the great Arellano, Dodong, as he is fondly called, now casts his own shadows that more often than not are larger, if not more significant.
In his first ever one-night exhibit at the private garden of General Carlos P. Romulo in 1981, that by and large consisted of equine paintings, he included some landscapes of European scenes and what Alfred Yuson then described as "uncommon nudes." Dodong recalls that the late Don Andres Soriano had persuaded him to part with a "not-for-sale" nude sketch, to hang in his bath in Spain." How insulted Dodong must have felt at that time.
After a few successful solo exhibits of his works in Manila, Dodong jetted off to California and worked full-time on his art. The next thing we know of him, he not only makes waves as a sensational artist but also is hailed as an exponent in his chosen genre of work–equine painting. Dodong’s prodigious talent fortunately is now in full harness.
His interest in equine painting probably started while he was barely 10 years old, when he received from his father an unusual gift–a horse named Ebony, a former sweepstakes race winner. More than five decades have passed since then, and listening to Dodong today discuss about game animals like race horses and game cocks is like reading the encyclopedic entries on the subject, with all their engaging footnotes and peppered with personal experiences of encounters, both jovial and rueful, with them.
It could also be the discipline gleaned from mosaic art that instilled in Dodong the painstaking eye for detail. (He remains to this day the only Filipino who studied in Japan for over two years under Rokuro Yabashi, a master exponent of marble mosaic.)
Dodong’s animal drawings are accurate. One is reminded of the great Renaissance tradition of observing nature scientifically. Like Fra Angelico and Leonardo da Vinci whose drawings of plant life can rival the best in botanical illustrations of today, Dodong’s pictorial representation of animal forms are more than faithful representations of his chosen subject. They are not only aesthetic, but also accurate in zoological detail.
The behavior and gestures of a racehorse or a gamecock, best captured in the ephemeral medium of watercolor, cease to simply be called animal illustrations. They are robust portraits of these animals, gazing on and even neighing or crowing as if conversing with the viewer.
Hillary Gibson, curator of The Armand Hammer Gallery in Los Angeles, described his works as "powerful."
"Salvador brings to American contemporary art a unique insight into the equestrian world that few artists have achieved," Gibson said.
An accredited artist-member of the California Art Club, Dodong exhibited his works at The Los Angeles Equestrian Center as resident artist, the Empire Polo Club as its official artist, the Eldorado Polo Club, Will Rogers Polo Club, The California Polo Club, The National Heritage of Fine Art Gallery in Beverly Hills, the Santa Anita Park and the Hollywood Park Turf Club, all in the West Coast.
In 1988, he was commissioned by Major Ronald Ferguson, polo manager of Prince Charles and father of the Duchess of York, to paint a mural depicting the match between England and the United States at the 1st Shakespeare Globe Cup Polo held at Eldorado Polo Club, and which the Duke and the Duchess of York attended. The painting was auctioned in London with Prince Philip as royal sponsor to benefit the rebuilding of the Shakespeare Theatre at its original site.
The following year, his commissioned watercolor painting of Jorrie, the polo pony of Prince Charles, was presented to the Prince at the Court of St. James by the late Dr. Armand Hammer and Empire Poloís A. Haagen III.
In his last trip to Manila, he brought a folio of watercolor drawings of the female nude form. In the present body of nude drawings, the embarrassment of the 1981 one-night exhibit no longer obtains. The drawings are wonderful portrayals of the female human form, in all its exquisiteness and authenticity, very much proceeding from the same persuasion that informed his earlier works: an artist does not only have to remain faithful to his subject, but must understand it to the last minutest detail to give it a representation that goes beyond the world of mere appearances.
Aristotle once said, "art completes what nature cannot bring to a finish." The philosophy well informs the art of Salvador Arellano. And in Dodong’s Diogenesian search for physical beauty, he proceeds instinctively not only to "imitate but to perfect" nature, as what Sir Kenneth Clark succinctly observed.
Perfection in technique, knowledge of his subject, and mastery in handling watercolor describe the art of Dodong. In his controlled and disciplined hands, the medium, admittedly one of the most difficult media in art making, is breathlessly startling. And the admiration becomes more significant considering that Dodong is unschooled. He had none of the formal training in art. The only conduit to the art that he now knows and eloquently practices was being son to the famous Juan Arellano, himself a great watercolorist.
Dodong’s case is a natural talent that simply cannot remain untapped. It is in his genes so to speak. As early as his boyhood years, he already was drawing incorrigibly. Yet the development is not at all linear. If one is to consider the checkered and errant life of Dodong–one time bum, the next a media talent; one time bohemian, the next an ad exec–one is awed by the way he developed a personal mastery of the medium, relying mostly on his understanding of the craft and instinctive talent at his own sweet time.
Dodong also expanded his repertoire to include portraiture. In October 1997, he was commissioned, at the recommendation of Hillary Gibson, to do a portrait of the former British Prime Minister, Baroness Margaret Thatcher. The painting was presented to her Ladyship by the artist at a charity event benefiting the Los Angeles Children’s Hospital and England’s International Centre for Child & Family Studies.
In portraiture, Dodong’s probing goes beyond the physical and the anatomical to include the metaphysical and psychological aspects of human nature. Dodong has indeed remained true to form. His only demand now, whatever he paints, is to be totally immersed or involved.
For comments, send e-mail to ruben_david.defeo@up.edu.ph.
Take for instance the name of Amorsolo vis-a-vis Philippine art. From the early 1900s of Fernando, first national artist for painting, to the present, the scene still boasts of artists bearing the name, this time led by Sylvia, the daughter. In the case of Abueva, Mulawin, the son, is now continuing the sculptural metier of Napoleon, national artist for sculpture.
Almost always, these second-generation artists continuing the legacy of established names before them in the firmament of Philippine art do well.
Salvador Arellano, son of the eminent painter and architect Juan Arellano, can glowingly attest to this fact. Once in the shadow of the great Arellano, Dodong, as he is fondly called, now casts his own shadows that more often than not are larger, if not more significant.
In his first ever one-night exhibit at the private garden of General Carlos P. Romulo in 1981, that by and large consisted of equine paintings, he included some landscapes of European scenes and what Alfred Yuson then described as "uncommon nudes." Dodong recalls that the late Don Andres Soriano had persuaded him to part with a "not-for-sale" nude sketch, to hang in his bath in Spain." How insulted Dodong must have felt at that time.
After a few successful solo exhibits of his works in Manila, Dodong jetted off to California and worked full-time on his art. The next thing we know of him, he not only makes waves as a sensational artist but also is hailed as an exponent in his chosen genre of work–equine painting. Dodong’s prodigious talent fortunately is now in full harness.
His interest in equine painting probably started while he was barely 10 years old, when he received from his father an unusual gift–a horse named Ebony, a former sweepstakes race winner. More than five decades have passed since then, and listening to Dodong today discuss about game animals like race horses and game cocks is like reading the encyclopedic entries on the subject, with all their engaging footnotes and peppered with personal experiences of encounters, both jovial and rueful, with them.
It could also be the discipline gleaned from mosaic art that instilled in Dodong the painstaking eye for detail. (He remains to this day the only Filipino who studied in Japan for over two years under Rokuro Yabashi, a master exponent of marble mosaic.)
Dodong’s animal drawings are accurate. One is reminded of the great Renaissance tradition of observing nature scientifically. Like Fra Angelico and Leonardo da Vinci whose drawings of plant life can rival the best in botanical illustrations of today, Dodong’s pictorial representation of animal forms are more than faithful representations of his chosen subject. They are not only aesthetic, but also accurate in zoological detail.
The behavior and gestures of a racehorse or a gamecock, best captured in the ephemeral medium of watercolor, cease to simply be called animal illustrations. They are robust portraits of these animals, gazing on and even neighing or crowing as if conversing with the viewer.
Hillary Gibson, curator of The Armand Hammer Gallery in Los Angeles, described his works as "powerful."
"Salvador brings to American contemporary art a unique insight into the equestrian world that few artists have achieved," Gibson said.
An accredited artist-member of the California Art Club, Dodong exhibited his works at The Los Angeles Equestrian Center as resident artist, the Empire Polo Club as its official artist, the Eldorado Polo Club, Will Rogers Polo Club, The California Polo Club, The National Heritage of Fine Art Gallery in Beverly Hills, the Santa Anita Park and the Hollywood Park Turf Club, all in the West Coast.
In 1988, he was commissioned by Major Ronald Ferguson, polo manager of Prince Charles and father of the Duchess of York, to paint a mural depicting the match between England and the United States at the 1st Shakespeare Globe Cup Polo held at Eldorado Polo Club, and which the Duke and the Duchess of York attended. The painting was auctioned in London with Prince Philip as royal sponsor to benefit the rebuilding of the Shakespeare Theatre at its original site.
The following year, his commissioned watercolor painting of Jorrie, the polo pony of Prince Charles, was presented to the Prince at the Court of St. James by the late Dr. Armand Hammer and Empire Poloís A. Haagen III.
In his last trip to Manila, he brought a folio of watercolor drawings of the female nude form. In the present body of nude drawings, the embarrassment of the 1981 one-night exhibit no longer obtains. The drawings are wonderful portrayals of the female human form, in all its exquisiteness and authenticity, very much proceeding from the same persuasion that informed his earlier works: an artist does not only have to remain faithful to his subject, but must understand it to the last minutest detail to give it a representation that goes beyond the world of mere appearances.
Aristotle once said, "art completes what nature cannot bring to a finish." The philosophy well informs the art of Salvador Arellano. And in Dodong’s Diogenesian search for physical beauty, he proceeds instinctively not only to "imitate but to perfect" nature, as what Sir Kenneth Clark succinctly observed.
Perfection in technique, knowledge of his subject, and mastery in handling watercolor describe the art of Dodong. In his controlled and disciplined hands, the medium, admittedly one of the most difficult media in art making, is breathlessly startling. And the admiration becomes more significant considering that Dodong is unschooled. He had none of the formal training in art. The only conduit to the art that he now knows and eloquently practices was being son to the famous Juan Arellano, himself a great watercolorist.
Dodong’s case is a natural talent that simply cannot remain untapped. It is in his genes so to speak. As early as his boyhood years, he already was drawing incorrigibly. Yet the development is not at all linear. If one is to consider the checkered and errant life of Dodong–one time bum, the next a media talent; one time bohemian, the next an ad exec–one is awed by the way he developed a personal mastery of the medium, relying mostly on his understanding of the craft and instinctive talent at his own sweet time.
Dodong also expanded his repertoire to include portraiture. In October 1997, he was commissioned, at the recommendation of Hillary Gibson, to do a portrait of the former British Prime Minister, Baroness Margaret Thatcher. The painting was presented to her Ladyship by the artist at a charity event benefiting the Los Angeles Children’s Hospital and England’s International Centre for Child & Family Studies.
In portraiture, Dodong’s probing goes beyond the physical and the anatomical to include the metaphysical and psychological aspects of human nature. Dodong has indeed remained true to form. His only demand now, whatever he paints, is to be totally immersed or involved.
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