Tuesday, December 18, 2007 Memory Lane By Ritchie Landis Doner Quijano
AH, yes! Jose “Kimsoy” Yap showed and treated us to a view of his body of works. Kimsoy, who is renowned as a watercolorist, gave us a peek of his works using other mediums during his solo show, “Images and Memories,” at the SM Art Center.
It was a timely occasion to get to know the man better because the entire exhibition is kind of like his own trip down memory lane.
The viewer was invited to walk with him and journey along his world. He included a selection of works from different periods of his long career as well as paintings he made in those years he spent in New York City.
Kimsoy showed paintings from the 1960s that were documentary in character, like the long-demolished Spanish villa beside the Cathedral convent.
The exhibit moved to another decade where frozen snippets of that particular time seemed still felt fresh in color. Then it moved to his recent works in oil.
Overall, the show gave proof of his mastery in drawing, portraiture and life-like figural painting. When these basic foundations are mastered, the rest (such as landscapes, seascapes, still life and the like) is a walk in the park.
