Art can be defined as a form of visual language. A form that takes on a certain structure which has been the norm for its specific convention. Ergo, a painting should b on flat surfaces, whether canvas or paper, a painting has to be on a flat plane. Sculptures should be able to stand on its own, ergo it should have materials that will be able to support itself. And as a language, it normally should come from a tradition that has been used as a standard form of communication. Conventions, standard, norm, should, has been. All these are what Henri Cainglet stay away from.
Art is there for us to be able to see our physical and metaphysical world from a worn out perspective. It should serve as a catalyst for us mortals, to be able to grasp an existence far beyond what our moribund souls are incapable of conceiving. Art helps us understand the meaning of beauty of what lies beyond our reach, and to be able to help us see from other perspectives. It is a tall order for one who would rather stick to convention and look from rose-colored glasses. But Henri Cainglet’s works aren’t conventional, nor are they easy to look at. Henri demands certain vigor in looking at his works. It necessitates a certain altered-state-of-mind concentration for an appreciation of his pieces.
Canvas to Cainglet does not necessarily come from any specific school of thought. They are neither abstract expressionism, nor are they mere abstractions. of late, he re-worked canvas surfaces to incorporate sausage-like protrusions creating a third-level dimension on those flat planes. He applies colors in a manner that creates an amalgamated palette. Patterns and graphic renditions are accretions to the artworks final outcome.
It is always a delight to expound on Cainglet’s art for the simple reason that it opens one’s senses to sensations one has yet to encounter. His textures come not only from the surface structures of his supports, but from the tedious re-workings of his brush strokes. It must be Asian sensibility coming thru. Very tactile and perceptible, texture is what separates his works from the rest.
All told, Henri Cainglet uses every possible tool to re-work this form of a visual language called ART. It is for the artist, a process o communicating his thoughts and his feelings through his canvas, paint, metal, wood, among other materials he so chooses.
Willy Marbella on Henri Cainglet, Seeing Gold (Seeds of Life), 2004
Henri Cainglet is not just a painter or a sculptor but an artist who is zestfully engaged with materials. Cainglet’s approach to materials, and to his art in general, is transformative in the sense that traditional art materials or natural objects a re transformed through a tactile and kinetic manual process into a new and original work. Indeed, he does art with a felicitous combination of imagination and dexterity. With his penetrating imagination, he is able to discover and bring to realization new possibilities in his material; in his economy of medium, nothing is ever lost or discarded, everything finds its place. Thus the creative process for him is first of all the intense engagement with the medium in its pure materiality, in terms of texture, color and tone, and all its artistic potentials and distinctive properties.
Alice G. Guillermo, Today Weekender, 2004
Cainglet has shown he is one of the most important figures on the Philippine art scene. His unusual shapes and hues transformed the inside of the artist’s head, brimming over with his fertile and grotesque imagination. His paintings are highly textured abstractions, and of earth tones (red, orange, yellow, brown, gray, white). There’s a certain roughness to Cainglet’s art, as though he chose to eschew artiness in order to highlight the natural. In his paintings, for instance, the application of paint, blending of color, and the texture give the impression of being impromptu or improvised. In the sculptures, in their unusual shapes and often grotesque embellishment give them their edginess. The artist is close to nature and often paying homage to the ecology in his installations. Cainglet popularized soft sculptures in the country.
Constantino C. Tejero, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 2004
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