Philippine Art Movement Essay

Sabel and the Dreamer Mark Justani created an oil painting entitled Abot Tanaw last 1997. In this painting, there’s a flying white kite and a floating person trying to reach for some sort of star in the night sky. The first thing that I noticed was the star the subject was trying to reach. It was quite noticeable because of the use of very bright colors on top of a dark night sky as background. The night sky was painted dark with highlights on the clouds. The subject was painted using bright colors as well. Shapes and lines were not very evident, though. There were no visible outlines on the subject. The only apparent shape was the diamond-shaped kite while the only evident lines were the stripes on the subject’s shirt. The dominant textures in the painting were soft ones, seen on the clouds, clothes and the skin of the subject. These elements of art give the feeling of being in a dream-like state. In the year 2002, Benedicto Reyes Cabrera, also known as Ben Cab, painted Homage to Sabel using acrylic paint on canvas. The name speaks of the subject, Sabel, a woman living in the streets. In this painting, she wears some sort of plastic material covering her body. Her face and hair was painted with brown and black colors respectively and white and grey for the covering on her body. I did not notice any shapes on the painting, yet I saw lines which were the apparent brushstrokes in every part of the subject. She smiles in the painting, drawing my eyes to her face. It was probably day time when this was rendered for the plastic seemed to be reflecting a lot of light. With the bright plastic and bright smile, the painting seemed to impart a warm, happy feeling. The colors used in the painting, Abot Tanaw, were well blended, making it look soft, giving the impression of a vague dream. Using bright colors on the subject made it stand out from the dark background. The absence of strong outlines and the use of light and shadow made the painting look 3 dimensional or realistic. The shadows show the contours of the body parts of the subject, adding to the realism of the subject. The presence of the flying kite on the night sky gives the impression of ironic events that usually happens in dreams since people don’t usually fly kites during the night. Meanwhile, Ben Cab used apparent brushstrokes for his painting of Sable, making it look rough, adding to the character of Sabel, a woman living in the streets. Sabel’s face was painted dark on top of a light background, also lifting it from the background, such as the subject of Abot Tanaw. Her plastic covering had a very apparent reflective texture because of the contrast between the shadows and lit areas, showing some bulkier areas. The covering also had stiff and flowing areas, like folded plastic, shown by both rigid brush lines and curved brush lines. The white plastic stands out from the red background as well. Abot Tanaw whispers â€Å"Dream.† I think what Mark Justani was trying to say that dreaming is the first and biggest step to achieving our goals, hence the nearness of the boy’s hand to the star. Without dreams, we cannot think of the possibilities we want to create for our lives. And to achieve our goals, we must believe in ourselves, as the subject believes that he can float and reach the star. The artwork speaks to me, telling me to believe in myself that I can be as great of an artist as Mark Justani is. I constantly bring myself down when I make mistakes or create a â€Å"bad† artwork because others bring me down as well. They constantly criticize my artworks: â€Å"where’s the other foot,† â€Å"she’s too fat,† and countless more. But, it is because of these critiques that I pursued to become better. The star is our goal, and the floating boy is each and every one of us. Mark Justani made this for us to see that he has reached hi s goal. He wants us to reach for ours too by believing in ourselves. Ben Cab oversteps the boundaries of classical or romantic art, whose subjects are usually beautiful women. He chose a very different muse, a woman living in the streets, using plastic or scraps of waste for clothes. Yet he was able to paint Sabel as real as she can be. Muses don’t have to be beautiful, nude ladies or women of high status. Society always dictates what is right or wrong, beautiful or ugly. I have found myself following these dictations, in art and in myself. I am used to following classical teachings regarding art. My subjects are usually people and animals, and I perfect them according to their anatomy, according to what I see with my eyes. I also dress myself according to what recent fashion magazines tell what is in. I perfect my artwork and myself according to what others see as beautiful. One thing that captivated me was Sabel’s smile. She smiles even though she has nothing. The painting imparts that we can be whoever we are and still be beautiful an d happy, paint whatever we want, see it beautiful and be happy about it. The boy in Mark Justani’s artwork looks a bit unappealing to me because, as I have mentioned, I grew up appreciating classical and romantic artworks. The face in not â€Å"ideal,† as classicists would say, yet I was able to appreciate its very Filipino rendering for it conveys an important message for us Filipinos that we can dream and try to reach for the stars. Sabel’s beauty portrayed by Ben Cab also changed my perception of beauty and happiness. Though I have the feeling that most people would not understand the portrait the way I have seen it, and think of it only as a portrait, it does not lack anything. Even though the subject is a repulsive person in real life, she is still meaningful. Society cannot tell us what we should dream of, how to be beautiful or how to be happy.