Trek Valdizno’s body of work is the only one of its kind that can account for, if need be, a genre of lyrical non-objectivism in the history of modern art in the Philippines. As a student at the UP College of Fine Arts, he was executing drawings with remarkable ease, in astounding number and at an incredible pace that is best expressed by an academic exercise called “a hundred drawings.”
Presented in at least one solo show and three group exhibitions annually over the past 17 years, the local art scene has become familiar with Valdizno’s imagery. Perhaps familiar enough that opponents have relinquished their initial hostility towards his chosen visual language. But have his drawings really become palatable to a larger public quick to dismiss abstraction as mindless scribbling if not non-indigenous?
Valdizno is above all a master draftsman in a novel way. With his brush he is able to draw paint. This may be a way to begin appreciating his abstraction. In his work only paint exists and we are witness to what it can literally do. In spite of myriad interpretations aroused by his sumptuous vocabulary of forms and figures, what is essential in the artist’s laboring is the transfer of terrestrial vibrations to his matter.
For his 25th solo exhibit at the Artis Corpus Gallery, Valdizno’s stimulus comes from making images out of “cotton-like buttons.” The preamble to this new body of work in contrast to the complexity of what the artist achieves cannot be any simpler or more banal, making it appear that he is quick to grab any motif if only to prod and probe his materials.
Much more than a materialist, he does not merely attribute adjectives to paint. Paint must skid, slide, fatten, thin, glisten, fly, chatter, quiver, tumble, soften, harden, laugh and cry. Valdizno’s acts of drawing become a vehicle to infuse paint with verbs that make it live and breathe as if human.
More innocently than idealistically, Valdizno allows his gestures to do everything to pigment, creating a picture more delicious than candy. He waits patiently till the last minute for a crucial starting point that will allow him to draw for hours and days on end, spewing out works by the hundreds, unapologetic of his abstractions done over and over again. And from his hometown of San Rafael, Bulacan he will deliver his paintings even though wet. It is the only thing he can imagine doing, very urgently.
Sandra Palomar
Antipolo City
18 November 2008
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URGENT DISCUSSIONS with Trek Valdizno on his recent paintings
Excerpts from conversations of Sandra Palomar with Gaston Damag via Yahoo Messenger, Enrico Manlapaz and Trek Valdizno via text messaging.
Nov. 3, 8:50 p.m.
TREK VALDIZNO (TV): D rain paralyzd ol my activities today. I cnt paint outside. stil lukin 4 som inspirations 2 paint new tings or new ideas.
Nov. 5, 11:25 p.m.
TV: Didnt touch brushes or paints today. Unloading som ideas bt im stil empty inside. Its hard how n wen 2 start painting.
Nov. 7, 10:59 a.m.
TV: Startin point nlang hnhntay ko. Ready n ang ground n my paints. I nid mor stres nd som emotional disturbance 2 push myself to paint.
SANDRA PALOMAR (SP): hindi makaumpisa sa pagpinta si trek. wala pa daw siyang ‘inspiration’ kahit na ready ang kanyang mga canvas. i told him his abstractions are landscapes. he seemed okay with titling the show ‘bulakan’. i am thinking of making a video-catalogue.
Nov. 9, 3:40 p.m.
TR: Rainy sunday! Wla n naman ako mgagawa.
Nov. 11, 9:23 a.m.
TR: tried quittin smokin today pero lalo akong naiistress
GASTON DAMAG (GD): i like the idea that you are going to do a video catalogue, the title is really good, pagod na tayo sa mga maka euro philosophe na titles. Bulakan is terre à terre. i also like the idea of landscape, landscape is so complex a subject that it is abstract, landscape is an idea of space (P. Cezanne).
The Preambule
TV: Finally, jaz fnishd two paintings. I made two paintings made of button like oil paints. I love d idea of making image out of ‘big buttons’. Cotton like buttons. i love it. Now i cn paint non stop, by creatin button shaped paints. im happy now.
Nov. 12, 5:36 p.m.
TV: 9 paintngs fnishd today. 6am n ako n2log. Grabe. Nkkapagod. Un 9paintngs ay recycled, gnamit ko to warm up.
TV: Last nyt ako ngkafever. Over fatigue cguro. im orderin d boys 2 paint d bakground pra mbilis. I got 30+ canvas 2 fnish.
SP: Can u tell me ur idea forur last series of pntgs with the birds?
TV: my idea is abt flight, landing, leap, jump, etc.
The Conflict
Nov. 19, 10:37 p.m.
TV: If i paint all d space of a 4x4 canvas wd button like paints in oil i wil consume 100 big tubes each 229 pesos totaling 22,229 pesos for a single painting! If I do dat 4 my exhbition, b4 d year ends im d poorest artist in d philippines.
TV: D cost of oil paint limits my ambition...d expenses, d efforts, d urgency, of this so called art im abt 2 make is frustratng.
Nov. 20, 4:25 p.m.
SP: masaya si trek sa outcome ng trabaho niya but he still has to finish some 20+ canvasses. Gusto niyang gumawa ng malalaki pero yung effect na nais niyang makamit ay magastos sa paint.
GD: his butter paintings ay parang icing na nga, kung thicker pa dun paano matutuyo mga canvas nya e malapit na ang show?
SP: yun ang exciting sa trabaho ni trek. he doesn’t run against time for “ideas”, but for the capabilities of his material, paint.
Mabibilang mo ngayon ang mga pintor na hamon ang kanilang materyales, hindi idea; na masasabi mong totohanang pintor dahil problema nila ang pintura at hindi kahulugan
4:25 p.m.
TR: My assistants r ol bc paintin my bakground. We fnishd 7 pntgs 2day bt nid my personal touches tmrow. Ang hrap magpaint ng dmo p alam ang exact colors at exact picture.
Nov. 22, 9:10 p.m.
ENRICO MANLAPAZ (EM): Sandra and trek, perhaps you can discuss this phenomenon... that some of the thick buttons have travelled about half an inch overnight after i took photos of paintings and left them upright.
EM: Perhaps map pins on the canvas under the paint buttons, can help so they dont slide down.
Nov. 24, 8:53 a.m.
SP: Good morning. Txtd trek about the paintings and he said not to worry. The paint is breathing.
EM: You mean they have a life of their own? As in process art?
SP: You can put it that way.
7:13 p.m.
TV: Im now painting a giant prayin mantis holding a rosary
SP: That mantis sounds like a good piece
TV: I also made a human figure nd flowers, mukang siluly glass ang dating, kaya excitd ako. 3dimensional n yta lhat ng paintings. Sculptd oils n yta kc. Paints lang medium ko pero sculpture n yta ang process. Actuali ang mantis ay pang future show sana along wd ideas of painting other insects. Pero ginawa ko na rin. Ayoko na mag isip pa. Dna ako na aastonish s ‘abstraction’ ko yta. Kaya im entertainin other ideas.
Nov. 28, 9:30 a.m.
TV: Finally, mttapos n ang prayin mantis.
TV: Cant find a picture of two ducks copulating but I tink dats d best pictur for my ‘eden’ painting
Nov. 30, 7:22 p.m.
THE CLIMAX
TV: Im fnishin d two copulating ducks.
Dec. 2, 10:16 a.m.
TV: Gudmorning’ d paintings r ol done. Im so exhausted.
The Denouement
TV: Im bgnin 2 dislike non objectiv painting, hndi n ako na aastonish. kya may mga humanfigure n ang smal canvas ko, like my two acrobats.
SP: Question: paki-describe mo uli yung idea mo sa mga ginawa mo sa animal cases ng national museum?
TR: Actualy ngkuha lng ako ng pics at inarange ko mga positions nla. On d spot exhbit un. Hndi kc ako mkakuha ng slot dat time, so i said 2 myself dt day, i nid 2 show it today’ voila! 1day show lang. Fascinatd lng ako s mga birds tlaga. I remembr one xmas wen i was a kid, we vsitd my lolo, i found out my hornbil bird cla nhuli at nmatay after a while. Tpos gnawa nlang stuf at dnisplay s sala. Astonishd ako dat visit.
THE ANTICLIMAX
Dec. 6, 8:32 a.m.
TV: My painting abt ducks laid eggs, blame d cold weather hir. Actualy, i made two 3D eggs frm oil paints, imagine dat.
TV: Im planin 2 paint a caterpillar crossin a branch. Un lang. Jaz 2 c n observ d patience of a caterpillar crosin a long branch.
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URGENT: Paintings from San Rafael, Bulacan is ongoing until Jan. 9, 2009 at the Artis Corpus Gallery, #303 Haig Street, Mandaluyong City. A video catalogue will be presented on Jan. 8, 2009 at 6 p.m. in the presence of the artist and curator.