HULOG

The Crucible Gallery takes great pleasure in presenting “HULOG” , an exhibition of recent works in acrylic on canvas and watercolor on paper by Alfredo Liongoren.

From the mid 1970s until the present, Liongoren had been painting abstract themes and landscapes, which explore the medium of paint: oil, acrylic, and watercolor. And after years of exploring abstraction Alfredo Liongoren turns to realism and figurative art with his finely balanced interpretation of a much touted historical event as seen in a contemporary perspective a quarter sa century later, and he dares say:

“The EDSA REVOLUTION is 25 years today. It is a failed revolution. What went wrong?

With warm memory i reminisce with Hulog and reflect on the nature of true change. “

“HULOG” is the key work of the show, alluding to Amos 7:8 where the Lord tells the prophet that he will use a plumb line to judge whether his people is “straight” by his standards.

The message of the show is conveyed not only in the artist’s painterly abilities, but also in the intellectual rigor in which he confronts his chosen issues. “PASANIN NI JUAN” is another key work, this time, against the overbearing weight of the cold stone slab whose surface bears an emergent image of an exaggeratedly voracious crocodile’s head, tomb like and silent, are the “every men” whose postures are determined by their circumstance. As human beings with an inescapable reality, they are caught between stillness and movement. Elements such as the stone become signifiers of the inhuman, the oppressive- coming into contact with the vital, the human.

“I believe that all revolutions are not revolutionary enough.” Liongoren continues, ” indeed true revolution is not instituted by power not by might, but by the spirit of god. All systems come and go, but ultimately, the system that reigns with love shall remain.”

And this message of hope can be seen in “MUNTING SISIDLAN 1, 2 , 3” and 4” all reflecting on the right values that should be contained in jars (transposed with images of children of various Filipino ethnographic groups). Alluding to 2 Corinthians 4:7 wherein a most costly jewel is encased in an earthenware jar: the treasure of the gospel continues to be entrusted to our country’s future generations of children.

Liongoren studied fine arts at the University of the Philippines and a British Council Scholar grantee in 1977-1978 at the B’yam show school of Drawing and Painting in London, UK for his post diploma.

Alfredo Liongoren has also been a consistent awardee from the Art Association of the Philippines from 1964 to 1972. He has had various awards from the Shell National Student’s Art Competition from 1963 to 1970.He was a Thirteen Artists Awardee of the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 1972.

“HULOG” will open in Crucible Gallery’s SM Megamall on February 8, 2011 and runs until February 20, 2011.

For further inquiries please call Crucible Gallery at 635-6061.