Provenance: Provenance: Private Collection, Manila

ABOUT THE WORK

Since his fine arts student days at the University of the Philippines, Edwin Wilwayco was in awe of his mentor, Jose Joya. His studies in UP was supported by his grandparents, and in his second year, he received the Celia Diaz Laurel scholarship that covered his tuition fees as he maintained a certain grade. Joya, Wilwayco recalled, would emphasize the importance of classical drawing. His mentor’s abstractions, moreover, made an impact on the young Wilwayco’s early abstract techniques. When Joya was commissioned to do a mural-size painting for the Philippine International Convention Center lobby in 1976, Wilwayco was among his students that the master artist tapped. It was also in 1976 when Wilwayco held his first solo show titled Images of Exuberance at the Hidalgo Gallery, Makati. Here, he exhibited his early abstract works influenced by Joya’s color tonalities and approaches to abstraction. This particular 1976 abstract piece is reminiscent of the early abstractions on the said show, displaying Wilwayco’s use of squares, rectangles, and circles as well as daring variations of curves and lines in his expressive compositions. Geometric shapes and engaging colors bring out a sense of memory and nostalgia in an intimate space, scene, and season.