ELEMENTS

Repositioning the Elements

Nature soothes as well as nature wrath's. These and some are effervescent features that define Karl Roque’s new works as he opens his latest exhibition titled “Elements” on October 15 at the Renaissance Gallery in SM Megamall. The artist continues his voyage into the realm of contemporary Filipino abstraction after taking the big leap from the footholds of clean cut-figuration amidst a surrealist inspired background that characterized his early works. Roque has since channeled his energies into the gesture-motion process of painting and what are revealed in his canvas surface are often distinctive and ubiquitous merger of color, texture, and contours with suggestive reference to the Rorschach and marbling techniques but only more definite and clean. The artist has admittedly retained the environmental concerns and life optimism that articulates much of the content of his previous collections. These are now freshly depicted in such works as Summer Breeze, Flaming Mountains, Lullabies of Aquarius, and Manna. The artist also pays tribute to the shape of the sphere, employed here as an accent to the composition or the shape of his canvas. Consistently utilized by the artist in a variety of ways throughout his career, the motif is also celebrated in the works of the late Jose Joya with whom the artist had affiliations with. In essence, the artist wants to evoke a feel-good experience and attain a certain degree of tranquility, security, and belonging or its equivalent aesthetic response from the viewer. He wishes to involve the viewer by allowing them to interpret his works based on their reaction to it, eliciting from their own memories or experiences, thus completing the cycle of his process. This latest exhibit re-affirms Karl Roque’s commitment to discovering new forms and processes that also characterize both the artist's life and art. As the saying goes “what nature ends, nature also begins”. -by D. E. Montera, MFA

J. Karl P. Roque, Jr. is an Associate Professor in the Fine Arts Program of the University of the Philippines Cebu College. He is a multiple recipient of the Jose and Asuncion Joya Professorial Chair Grant for creative work. The artist lives and works in the city of Cebu. The exhibit runs until 24 October 2010. For details, please contact Renaissance Gallery at 02-637-3101.