Provenance: Private Collection, Makati City

ABOUT THE WORK

Known for his Permutation and Diaphanous series, which are considered landmark in Philippine modern abstraction, Romulo Olazo was also an accomplished figurative artist. In fact, art critic Leo Benesa argued that his abstraction has a basis on figuration, primarily the female nude. In this work, Pinwheel Series # 20, the reverse is also true, with the figures bearing the sinuous, curvilinear shapes of Olazo’s abstraction, which appear as one continuous sculptural mass. The combined richness and texture of the background is also an iconic Olazo. While the pinwheel had become one of the masters’ enduring themes, it’s rare that the subject is held aloft by a human hand, its blades spinning in the air. The addition of facial features transforms this work as a tender portrait of father and son.