Sublime Seas

Depicting the landscape through painting and other visual means has an established tradition in Philippine art. Early examples often provided a tableau for religious themes, such as the crucifixion, found in the stations of the cross or in home altars. Early traditions of the vistas and letras y figuras often showed vignettes of city life, where the landscape, as well as the various peoples in their fineries and unique ways of dressing, showed the landscape as an aspect of culture. Luna and Hidalgo both did landscapes of Marikina and the Pasig River. Lorenzo Guerrero is known for his exemplary depiction of the burning of Sta. Ana in the late 19 th century. The 19 th century female artist Adelaida Paterno embroidered Philippine landscapes on fabric using female hair in a manner that makes it look like a European etching. But most notable of the landscape painters would probably be Fernando Amorsolo, who not only depicted genre scenes but pure, unpeopled landscapes as well. His popularity gave rise to a slew of landscape painters who exhibited and sold their paintings at Mabini, and which, because of both the rise of modern Philippine art, as well as the hackneyed technique of many of the Mabini painters, the landscape as a painting genre lost traction among the country’s academicians and culturati. Very few artists who dedicated themselves to landscape painting would reach critical and popular support. Juvenal Sanso, with his poetic imaginary seascapes, based on the fusion of the Philippine coasts with baklads and the coasts of Brittany with the solitary boats and tideline posts, would be one. Among the remainder of this ilk would be Rudolf Gonzalez, who started his career 50 years ago, and has focused on his gleaming interpretations of the tropical sea.

Rudolf Gonzales sold his first painting at the age of 12. This is not a total surprise as he grew up in a family of painters. His father, Rick Gonzalez, is also an accomplished painter. Both of them eventually running a family gallery which was already active in the 1960s. Now 62 years old, Gonzalez is celebrating his 50 years in art through a simultaneous exhibition at Galerie Francesca, in Megamall, and Galerie Nicholas in Glorietta. The exhibition “Sublime Seas: Rudolf Gonzalez’ 50 Years in Art” pays tribute to both the romantic notions and the spiritual aspects of the sea – a subject ironically with very few representation in the Philippines, which is surrounded by it. “Sublime Seas” is the summary of Gonzalez’ experiences of the seas of our country and of Hawaii, where he frequently visited his cousin, another notable painter of the sea, Roy Gonzalez Tabora. Gonzalez’ seascapes provide an array of seascapes where the waves, the wind and light create a dazzling vista, conveying both the ideals of the romantic and the awe and spiritual experience of the sublime.

Sublime Seas: Rudolf Gonzalez’ 50 Years in Art is jointly presented by Galerie Francesca-Megamall and Galleria Nicolas. Artist`s reception will be on Sept. 7, 6:30pm at Galerie Francesca-Megamall. Exhibit runs simultaneously from September 5 to 17, 2017.

For inquiries, please call Galerie Francesca-Megamall +632 5709495/6592667 or Galleria Nicolas +632 6250273 or email galeriefrancesca.mega@gmail.com or gallerianicolas@gmail.com