One of the undisputed doyens of modern abstract
art in the country, Roy Veneracion literally goes
to town with the most disarming use of color in
a show of his latest works at the newest gallery
in town (mag:net +, until Oct. 12).
While other abstractionists of his generation have
predictably gone minimalist or unabashedly expressionist,
Veneracion, the ever-fervid colorist par excellence,
has chosen to let loose a torrent of tones and colors
that, by their very essence, are of the neutral
or neutralizing variety. It is most presumably the
artist’s way of expressing his current preoccupation
with the intuitive power of memory and the subconscious
state where dreams lurk and chaos spells order.
But
that is barely scratching the surface of Veneracion’s
oeuvre, which explores his continuing fascination
with dreams and lifelong practice of dream analysis.
The process of introspective has allowed him to
delve deeper into the multiple levels of meaning
and the dissonance of imagery in the postmodern
world. Thus, his canvases are indeed far richer
and more resonant than what they initially and randomly
signify, and the viewer is correspondingly admonished
to spend equal quality time ruminating on his creations,
which teem with anecdotes and impressions, not to
mention dreams and nightmares.
Veneracion has himself led an equally colorful life
in the arts, having witnessed the evolution of abstract
expressionism from the ‘60s, when as a gifted
prodigy of the late Dean Jose Joya of UP, he initially
ventured into the spontaneous and highly gestural
approaches characteristic of the New York School.
Later, in the turbulent decade of the ‘70s,
he likewise trod the path of social realism, through
not of the hardcore variety like Pablo Baens Santos,
Renato Habulan, and Antipas Delotavo, as his works
explored the spiritual realm in yoga and Zen Buddhism.
His art-making took an unpredictably new turn at
the fall of the conjugal dictatorship and the ascendancy
of a new political order, infusing a newfound sense
of artistic freedom that found fruition in increasingly
surreal and markedly apocalyptic works. Thus, we
can see in his current exhibit a merging of two
opposing elements – the formal and the casual,
the conscious and the subconscious, the classical
merging with pop imagery – even the strictly
personal attempting to cast light on the formidable
shadows of art and history.
But
that is barely scratching the surface of Veneracion’s
oeuvre, which explores his continuing fascination
with dreams and lifelong practice of dream analysis.
The process of introspective has allowed him to
delve deeper into the multiple levels of meaning
and the dissonance of imagery in the postmodern
world. Thus, his canvases are indeed far richer
and more resonant than what they initially and randomly
signify, and the viewer is correspondingly admonished
to spend equal quality time ruminating on his creations,
which teem with anecdotes and impressions, not to
mention dreams and nightmares.
