Carating’s 24-carat paintings

Some 20 years separate this article from the first interview I had with the artist Norberto Carating for a possible write-up in a university publication. Unfortunately, the article never saw fruition for reasons better left unsaid. Writing this article, therefore, was some kind of a déjà vu for me. Most of the circumstances that attended the first interview in the 1970s were also present in the recent face-en-face with the artist at his studio in one of the old communities in Metro Manila at his domicile in quaint San Francisco del Monte.

The only difference perhaps is from a small studio within his residence during those initial years, the artist today has the entire house as his working area. That time, too, there were only a handful of paintings strewn in the studio, most works being quite manageable in dimension, including those that were done during his student days in the University of the Philippines. At present, there seems to be no more space to store his works, which have now metamorphosed into full-blown large-scale paintings.

In over two decades, Carating, widely if not fondly known in the art scene as Lito, has worked on diverse artistic concerns. What constitutes the artist’s collection of his works in his studio can now be presented in a retrospective show to be able to appreciate deeply his art. Carating officially started his career as an exhibiting artist in 1974 when he presented his first solo exhibition of lamanglupa works at the now defunct Galerie Bleue at Rustan’s Makati. That debut exhibit would have been the subject of my first article on Carating. Little did I know that it would come 27 years later and seven solo shows after.

From his earlier lamanglupa and Anilao series to his recent exploration with pure colors and now his metallic series he is presenting in his eighth solo exhibition of new works at Budji Gallery slated to open on Dec. 6, Carating has been impeccably virtuous with his handling of what now has become his identifying medium–acrylic.

The works that the artist is scheduled to unveil are stark conversations between vertical and horizontal lines, with welcome interjections from solid color planes The ensuing dialogues are actually formal essays that are not only well premised or fully explored, but convincingly resolved. Even if one looks at the works over and over again, he does not tire nor get exhausted.

Carating’s paintings are mesmerizing as they are magical. The artist’s proficiency with his subject matter, mostly depictions of the various times and moods of the day, and his coherence in handling the medium enable him to provide respites in well-appointed places, queries and corresponding responses in some, or simply some eye-popping revelations here and there, whether in terms of color or in the stimulating juxtaposition of geometric shapes in his visually engaging pictorial field.

The one thing remarkable about Carating’s new works is their quietness. Carating’s art certainly has matured. Where his former canvases are strewn with pictorial details and a myriad of visual elements, in Carating’s new works, the mood is altogether subdued. Yet, his proclivity to textures, a concern he has been working on since his 10-year old lamanglupa series and all those that came after it, has miraculously not bored him to tears. His steadfastness to express and capture textures remains paramount in his artistic concern. And it is this integrity that without doubt becomes the very source of power in Carating’s art.

As I have always maintained whenever and wherever I discuss abstraction in art, the abstract idiom is a product of a long distillation of visual elements and techniques gleaned from the many years an artist has been engaged in his art. The pruning and editing of elements can only be dictated by time.

One can say this now of Carating’s art–it has not only come wonderfully of age; like wine, it has become better and more exquisite with age. The excesses in his artistic baggage are carefully thrown out to make room for further visual articulation. And those that are discarded are not exactly obliterated from memory. They are simply stacked somewhere in the furrows of his constant jostling mind, only to be resurrected to stage their re-appearances in his canvases every now and then to suit a particular intent, if not to remind his audience of his artistic roots.

This historical index in Carating’s works, particularly for one who has closely and dotingly followed his development as an exponent of Philippine abstraction, is intensive as it is sumptuous. This way, he never alienates his followers.

In the current collection, the characteristic incisions to let textures creep or jut out all over the place in his work are deftly undiminished. His hand-crafted tools to create and convincingly express them largely remain the same, with some adaptations here and there from constant use through time. Even the pulse and control by which he manipulates these tools and medium have correspondingly marched with him in finding more salient options, if not techniques, to enrich the textural quality of his works.

Carating charmingly transforms his picto-rial field into grids, in contrast to his all-over application of visual elements in the past. It is a logical development. Many stylistic evolutions in art history happen this way. The erstwhile spontaneous and unrestricted application of organic decorations on Minoan pottery gave way to the highly organized and rectilinear design in the ensuing Mycenean pottery.

His use of metallic pigments–gold, silver, copper, and bronze, to cite a few–is actually a concern he started some two or three years ago. This time, however, it is a full ventilation of the capabilities and possibilities of the lustrous medium. He averages three to four layers of metallic acrylic to act as slates for his textural inscriptions, nay, incisions. The process, in fact, almost assumes the concreteness of masonry, depending on how generous Carating feels to dispense with his very expensive medium, all to achieve alternating iridescent, dark, rich or antique finishes.

At times, he integrates the usual colors he manipulates in his early works like cadmium orange, cobalt blue, pthalo green and yellow. This way, they serve as initial layers or priming medium for his canvases before he installs his thick applications of metallic acrylics, such that they also peep out, providing visual reminders of past explorations in an almost pentimento fashion.

Carating obtained his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the UP College of Fine Arts in 1970. A consistent winner in practically all the national art competitions, including the CCP 13 Artists awards in 1990, he has represented the country in many international art events in China, Cuba, and the United States. He has extensively exhibited from coast to coast in the United States and Canada, in Germany and most recently in Spain in Europe, as well as in Hong Kong and Singapore.

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Last week, I wrote about Australian artist Winsome Jobling and the ongoing exhibit of her works at the Corredor in UP College of Fine Arts in Diliman. On Dec. 5, she will conduct a paper-making workshop at the Pottery Exchange, where she will demonstrate her technique of pouring big sheets (up to 2 x 1 meter), as well as her different ways of watermarking, rust-dyeing, and leaf printing.

Pottery Exchange is located at Bonaventure Bldg, Garden Level, along Ortigas Ave. in San Juan. Call 722-99-86 for details.

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For comments, send e-mail to ruben_david. defeo@up.edu.ph.