Feleo’s fine art
April 7, 2003 | 12:00am
Roberto Feleo does not hold exhibits so often. From the time he started formally exhibiting his works through solo exhibitions in 1985, he has only mounted 10 exhibits during the 18-year interim. The number does not match one exhibition a year, compared to other artists who can easily churn out exhibits, not one but two or even three a year. One easy, if not convenient, speculation is: It is probably more time-consuming to make sculptures than paintings. But that is a given fact. The reason goes beyond that.
His ongoing exhibit, which opened last March 30 and is ongoing at The Drawing Room until April 22, handsomely provides the answer. There is not only one answer. There are 13 – the number of pieces comprising this solo exhibition of works done from 2001 to 2002.
The exhibit, titled Unanan, comfortably establishes Feleo as a Filipino sculptor of note. Each of the lucky 13 pieces speaks of a highly discriminating artist who has successfully married form with content. Each one is a creation of utmost dedication to art and of glowing sophistication of craft. In Feleo’s art, the distinction is non-existent.
The overarching quality of the artist’s work is its cognizance for fine sensibility. He literally does not leave a stone unturned when making art. All the components are attended to with an enviable and meticulous precision.
The sculptor that Feleo is, he orchestrates his materials with such appalling splendor. His works make use of an assortment of materials. Each one of them is not simply chosen to define significant forms or provide visual and tactile textures, but for its congruence to the artistic idea of the moment.
One engaging facet in his art is its exquisiteness in exhausting an idea to its fullest, thus imbuing the works with fine form. Feleo’s art is all about finesse. Nothing less, nothing more. With carefully well-chosen materials, he constructs forms with such abundance of grace and flair, all reflecting depth of intent. The savoir-faire that goes with each form is tremendous.
This attitude (and gift) for perfection may have been brought by his many years of teaching art, both in the secondary and tertiary levels. Honed in the grooves of the academe, Feleo translates his artistic concept with admirable conviction, fully aware of his responsibilities not only as a visual artist but as a dedicated student of Philippine life and culture. Hence, his works are eloquent sources of anthropology and art, as well as history and technology.
In Unanan, his penchant for the mythical and the historical are in ample supply. Making use of the boat’s image as a vessel to ferry the spirits, he culls sources from the northern mountain people of the Cordillera to the seafaring tribes in the south.
The works included in this exhibition tell of the remarkable expanse of research he has done on the subject matter, dealing with vessels and urns allied to the rites of passage, from birth to death.
The amalgam of sawdust, which is Feleo’s primary material, and textile to line the interior of these vessels call to mind the two olden art forms of clay and fiber, how they both embody the notion of containment of the human body and/or its parts. In birth, a clay jar contains the umbilical cord cut from the mother’s womb and the newly born before it is released to meander in the sea. A woven blanket wraps the dead (also a form of containment) prior to burial. Huge jars of clay are widely used in indigenous cultures to contain the bones of the deceased as part of second burial practices. In between birth and death is the need for shelter. The house is one huge containment that provides rest and comfort to mortals.
The chosen form for all the pieces is that of the boat. Feleo magically imbues each work with unique richness, each one telling its own story and significance. The choice may have been dictated by the powerful form and image of the Manunggul jar that depicts the journey to the afterlife on a boat. On the other hand, it may also be his way of paying homage to the rich boat tradition of the country, from Batanes to Sulu, the country being archipelagic in configuration where bodies of water connect the more than 7,000 islands.
Each vessel or reliquary is topped with a snugly fit lid, kept in place by hand-crafted dowels. And so that it does not shudder on its blade-like base, a lacquered boat stand magnificently props up the work, which is ingeniously crafted from narra and yakal procured from second-hand lumber shops.
To further the concerns of the exhibition, Feleo appropriates from marine life like the kabibe, susong dagat, and isda, if not from animal forms like the baboy ramo, bayawak, pagong and bakunawa, as well as plant forms like the durian in its myriad permutations. The result is a collection that is scented with an indigenous Filipino aroma and local color.
The works are propped up on pedestals of varying heights, positioned against the wall but where some distance (about two feet) is left to allow the viewer to still go around the works. Some are laid down on certain areas on the floor, lined with sand and gravel, and sprinkled with dried leaves that share the same pigmentation as the boats. Candles burn by their side and bottles of native wine are offered so as to emphasize the ritual quality of the works.
"Baboy Ramo" (2001) is an example of Feleo’s way with materials. In this particular piece, the materials – car wax, copper, glass, acrylic and textile on sawdust and white glue mix on cardboard, supported by cut and formed aluminum expander sheets – are taken as an ensemble.
Where the world of appearances is concerned, "Kabibe" (2002) is an engaging simulacrum of the barnacles that cling to marine life or anything underwater like rocks and logs. The case is also true with his renditions of the durian fruit in "Durian" and "At Durian Pa" (2002). In "Kabibe," the keen attention to detail is paramount. In another light, it looks like a Sanso landscape painting come alive.
"Ang Bakunawang Naipako" (2002), because of its sac-like form, is the only work that digresses from the boat form appropriated in the dozen pieces. An Ilonggo tradition of house construction informs the work. In this piece, Feleo likens the house to a boat in providing a place to rest, in this case, the house being the very idea of shelter for the living.
The dragon-like bakunawa featured in this work is of the Panay variety. It is the same form that is depicted in "Bakunawa ng Gabi" (2002). Folk belief has it that the animal has to be pierced to death by driving stakes into its head, tail and its forelegs to ensure peace and harmony in the house.
The work stands out from the lot, being the biggest in dimension. It provides three levels of view, representing the netherworld, the earth, and heaven. Barnacle-like adornments on both sides are suspended from copper wires. Some of these wires are wrapped in sawdust, and the rest left in their natural state. The juxtaposition provides textural contrasts, as it foregrounds the momentariness of time, bearing in mind that as the work acquires more years, the exposed copper would have then acquired the desired patina of age.
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