Tuesday, June 05, 2007 Abstract Mood By Ritchie Landis Doner Quijano
Abstraction is the less understood field because it doesn’t show the natural way we see things. It can be appreciated by looking at the qualities of form and color. To an art professional, abstraction is the pinnacle of expression and is most hard to fathom.
There is often an exaggeration and a stylization of subjects to project aesthetics. Sometimes I start to believe that it can’t really be taught. Though I could be wrong, abstracts are popular in art schools anywhere. But it doesn’t mean it can’t be made by self-taught artists. This non-exclusivity gives it a freestyle kind of domain where restrictions are unheard.
And here comes one who’s doing his own brand, Bobby Gonzales. He is basically an all-around artist; meaning he is very skilled. Adept in painting and making three-dimensional forms, he started crafting commissioned works. Some were life-size figural monuments and props while those that he mass-produced for export were statuettes and figurines.
But it’s those abstract works he made that pushed his art to break limits. Bobby joins the exhibition scene by participating in the Panaghugpong series of shows, among others. His art may go back and forth, from modern to conservative and vice versa, that is consistent with the pendulum theory. But it is the display of versatility, and not the consistency in him, that’s worth watching.
