Geline Salac

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‘Lakbay’ art exhibit features chat with the artists themselves

Pocholo Concepcion

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1738991411230Lakbay.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/>Nena Saguil, untitled, 1978</div>MANILA -- An interesting sidelight of the art exhibition, “Lakbay: Voyages into the Absolute with Nena Saguil,” which runs Feb. 9-12 at Discovery Primea in Makati, is the series of talks by seven of nine internationally-based Filipino artists whose works are featured at the event.Presented by Art House, described by founder and CEO Carlo Pineda as a creative platform dedicated to cultural exchange and community engagement, “Lakbay” showcases rarely seen works by Nena Saguil, the Filipino modernist/abstract artist who lived and practiced her profession in Paris for over 40 years until she died in 1994 at age 79.Accompanying her oeuvre — lent by the Saguil Foundation — are paintings and mixed media by Jana Benitez, Rose Cameron, Kim Cruz, Lizza May David, John Wayne Forte, Marissa Gonzalez, Racso Jugarap, Kulay Labitigan, and Jaclyn Reyes.The talks will give the public an idea on how these artists work — their habits, routines, processes, insights, challenges, and struggles in pursuit of their goals while living in a foreign land. For instance, Saguil was said to have offered to work as a domestic help to pay the rent for her small apartment in Paris.The schedule of the talks is as follows: Forte and Gonzalez, Feb. 9, 4-6 p.m.; Cruz and Reyes, Feb. 10, 4-6 p.m.; Labitigan, Feb. 11, 4-6 p.m.; Cameron and David, Feb. 12, 4-6 p.m.Some of the artists find a connection with Saguil.Benitez has once been quoted: “All artists know we don’t make our art. It comes from within us. We have the tremendous, humbling, insane privilege of just showing up and having it come through us.”Saguil, commenting in an interview by Cid Reyes on her predilection for the color blue, said: “I did not choose it. I felt it! I am very intuitive, but only in the sense that the mind has foretold what the hand should do.”What Jugarap finds remarkable in Saguil is “her courage to carve her own path and explore abstraction at a time when it wasn’t widely embraced in Philippine art. Her move to Paris and her ability to stay rooted in her identity while exploring new ideas reminds me of my own journey and artistic practice.”Cameron said that, “like Nena Saguil, I find kinship in the process: the repetitive, meditative nature of her circular forms, which still possess a freshness and uniqueness in every piece. I strive for the same within my work, particularly through my focus on sampaguita flowers and the intricately abstract weaving motifs that reflect both tradition and innovation.“Nena’s work holds no pre-determined ‘finish line.’ Instead, there exists an intuitive pursuit of harmony and balance that signals when a piece is complete. My process mirrors this. Hours of meticulous detail, layer upon layer of expression, culminate in a moment of certainty — the painting reveals when it is ready. Like her, I find immense joy in the process itself: the act of painting, the passage of time spent creating, and the undeniable sense that nothing feels as right as being immersed in the work.”<div> </div>

'Lakbay' showcases rarely seen works by Nena Saguil, the Filipino modernist/abstract artist who lived and practiced her profession in Paris for over 40 years until she died in 1994 at age 79.

'Lakbay' showcases rarely seen works by Nena Saguil, the Filipino modernist/abstract artist who lived and practiced her profession in Paris for over 40 years until she died in 1994 at age 79.