“In my own little world, I know exactly what I want to do, and the greatest satisfaction for me is doing things that can become works of art. I can find no equivalent in that.” – Arturo Luz
In advertising, Cid Reyes is known the brilliant creative mind behind classic campaigns such as “Labadami, labango” and “Huwag maging dayuhan sa sariling bayan.”
But Reyes is also a multi-awarded art critic, and it was in this capacity that he spoke on March 26 at the Ayala Museum. Reyes’ talk, titled “Conversations with artist-critic Cid Reyes,” as part of the show Monumental: New Works by National Artist Arturo Luz. Seated amidst the rapt audience of art patrons, students and other attendees was the artist himself.
Reyes began with Luz’s earlier work, including the paintings “Harana,” “Cyclists” and a portrait of good friend and fellow artist, Fernando Zobel, wherein Luz created an extremely accurate portrayal using only lines. According to Reyes, “Mr. Luz uses the single element of line in a multitude of configurations, the effect of which is totally symphonic… The canon of Mr. Luz’s art is in the simplification of form, the reduction to its essence, the linearity, the assembly of line.” The evolution of Luz’ work into the abstract eventually led him to abandon figuration in art altogether.
As Arturo Luz himself recounts, “I asked myself, why do I insist on using a subject when my work was progressively growing more and more linear, more and more abstract? The subject simply no longer seemed important. The important elements were line, composition, relationships. Why not do sculpture?”
Reyes then went on to discuss sculpture, from its beginnings in Archaic Greece, where sculptors were often regarded on a lower level than painters or architects. He recounted various achievements such as Auguste Bartholdi’s rejected design for a lighthouse for the Suez Canal’s entrance, which needed only minor adjustments to became New York’s Statue of Liberty.
Abstract or non-objective sculpture allows artists such as Arturo Luz to work with line, form, shape and volume in the context of physical space. This is the case with his most recent work, which can be seen animating the landscape of Greenbelt Park. Perusing his work after Reyes’ talk, Luz said, “I think this is my best exhibit ever.”
