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Lito Zulueta

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Handout photo." src="https://news-workbench-api.abs-cbn.com/api/upload-raw/20240725130744/125e3711aaf89a83d92494a000e57b6c50570565e593f21e3eefd036bf37d166.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><figcaption>Handout photo.</figcaption></figure></div>MANILA -- Fil and Janos Delacruz are the leading father-and-son tandem in Philippine art today. They take after such paternal pairings as Angel and Michael Cacnio, Romulo and Jonathan Olazo, and Mauro Malang and Soler Santos. In all of these cases, the son is the self-portrait of the father. And vice-versa. The Delacruzes will once again show that art runs in the family with their separate but simultaneous exhibits at Art Lounge Manila at The Podium in Mandaluyong—Fil with “Saglit,” and Janos with “Tadhana.” Both exhibits run July 23 to Aug. 5.   (Artist’s reception is on July 25.)Fil’s show takes after the Heraclitean philosophy that the only thing constant in life is change. In his exhibit of mainly oil-on-canvas works, the elder Delacruz delves into time and mortality.The collection features Delacruz&#x27;s iconic Diwata series, portraying these subjects as mythical figures of folklore and symbols of how fleeting things are, creating an intimate interaction between artist and viewer joined as there are by the reality of creeping  mortality.The series could also be seen as a memorial and elegy for the passing last January of Fil’s wife, Marialuz “Marlou” Buenaflor DelacruzMeanwhile, in “Tadhana,” Janos explores themes of longing, destiny, and the complexities of love. On exhibit are art works on canvas, paper, and reinforced resin, providing a record of his visual journeys that captures the intricate, many-sided evolution of relationships and of becoming one own’s person and artist. Father and son were recipients of the Benavidez Award as outstanding students of fine arts at the University of Santo Tomas (Fil in 1973, Janos in 2006), and the prestigious CCP (Cultural Center of the Philippines) Thirteen Artists Awards (dad in 1992, son in 2018). And both have held simultaneous but separate exhibits before in one venue that showed the complementarity of their art styles and trajectories while also showing their contrast and divergence. Art indeed runs in the Delacruz family, albeit in what Janos may call as a “dialogue” of idioms, styles, and adventurings, personal and public.<div>Indigenous symbols</div>Felimon Perez Delacruz (born 1951) is famous for his paintings and print works.  His most noted subjects are members of indigenous cultural communities, particularly the <a href="https://epa.culturalcenter.gov.ph/1/2/2363">Manobo</a> of Kalamansig, Sultan Kudarat, with whom he lived for three years. He supported their struggles against land grabbers and loggers who ravaged ancestral lands. Fil’s art is rich in indigenous symbols, such as the “diwata,” lizard, egg, and skull, which convey the values of the “lumad” or indigenous people of Mindanao. Although his derivations from Manobo cosmology were earlier  made to complement political themes of displacement and oppression, his explorations of pantheism have lately been in aid of environmental advocacy and of more “universal” themes such as the overriding matriarchal spirit infused in Philippine forests and the dualism behind nature’s most exotic flora and fauna.“Saglit” is “moment” in Tagalog (Fil hails from Hagonoy, Bulacan), and his exhibit may be both a foreboding of one’s mortality and a celebration of art’s power to hold beauty a moment longer. Either way, what’s constant here is Fil Delacruz’s iconography of the woman. <div>Women and time</div>“In “Saglit”,” according to the curator’s notes by Carlomar Daoana,” Delacruz’s women are once again depicted with subdued grace, juxtaposed with physical manifestations of time such as clocks, hourglasses, and the gears and bolts of chronographs. Rather than being subjects of time, they are portrayed as reminders of time, akin to the Greek goddess Ananke, who represents the inevitability and passage of time. These women communicate that time is passing; that no matter our wealth and achievements, our destiny is ultimately ash, echoing the Biblical sentiment of &#x27;dust to dust.’”“Yet,” the curator’s notes continue, “despite being messengers of our fleeting time, these women are portrayed as flourishing figures, suggesting that there is value in being conscious of time. This awareness allows us to cultivate an appreciation for the transient nature of life.”Aside from oil paintings, Fil is showing sculptures, in which he reimagines his “Diwata” iconography in resin works that, because of their exquisite three-dimensionality, make their theme of dualism even more striking. Hand-painted in verdigris and other muted but quite transfixing colors, the works are most probably the exquisite surprise awaiting Fil Delacruz watchers. <div data-darkreader-inline-border-bottom="" data-darkreader-inline-border-left="" data-darkreader-inline-border-right="" data-darkreader-inline-border-top="" data-darkreader-inline-color=""> </div><div data-darkreader-inline-border-bottom="" data-darkreader-inline-border-left="" data-darkreader-inline-border-right="" data-darkreader-inline-border-top="" data-darkreader-inline-color="">Artist’s destiny</div>Just like his dad, Janos is noted for his graphic skills that first manifested in his drawings of hybrid figures and not much later, his printmaking, for which he won a slew of national awards. Like his dad, too, who’s conducted printmaking workshops notably as lecturer at the UP fine arts school, Janos has lately been giving similar workshops in Mindanao.  For “Tadhana,” Janos continues his practice of visual journaling collection by presenting works on paper, hand-painted reinforced resin, and canvas. The pieces are filled with dynamic lines, shapes, colors, and patterns.  “Tadhana” is the Tagalog word for “fate” or “destiny,” and in the exhibit, Delacruz explores the themes of human drive and despair by delving into romantic love. Whether romantic love is fated and determined or fortuitous and arbitrary, the works explore the tumultuous emotions and complexities associated with love.<div>Art and grief</div>“Tadhana” also serves as a tribute to Janos’s late mother. His autobiographical approach reveals how his mother&#x27;s passing led him to meditate on life and relationships. Through his art, he processes personal doubts and emotions, a method akin to private therapy, and like his father, raises the personal to the public.In a way, Janos and Fil Delacruz through their personal loss—the son has lost a mother and the father, a spouse—have elevated their artmaking to more contemplative, significant levels. They’ve achieved through their art what Bertolt Brecht has said about mourning:“A man’s stature is shown by what he mourns and in what way he mourns it. To raise mourning to a higher plane, to make it an element in social progress: that is an artistic task.”

Fil and Janos Delacruz are the leading father-and-son tandem in Philippine art today. They take after such paternal pairings as Angel and Michael Cacnio, Romulo and Jonathan Olazo, and Mauro Malang and Soler Santos. In all of these cases, the son is the self-portrait of the father. And vice-versa.

Fil and Janos Delacruz are the leading father-and-son tandem in Philippine art today. They take after such paternal pairings as Angel and Michael Cacnio, Romulo and Jonathan Olazo, and Mauro Malang and Soler Santos. In all of these cases, the son is the self-portrait of the father. And vice-versa.

For Fil and Janos Delacruz, art indeed runs in the family

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For Fil and Janos Delacruz, art indeed runs in the family

Lito Zulueta

Published July 25, 2024 08:45 PM PHT

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Janos Delacruz

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