PROPERTY FROM THE PROFESSOR AMBETH R. OCAMPO COLLECTION

Exhibited: Ateneo Art Gallery, Arturo Luz: Sculptures, Quezon City, 2004

Literature: Reyes, Cid. Arturo Luz. Makati City: Ayala Foundation and The Crucible for Globe Telecom, 1999. Illustrated with artwork description on page 159.

ABOUT THE WORK

The Spare Elegance of Arturo Luz From Ambeth Ocampo, Curator for the Arturo Luz Retrospective - While working on his Black on White and White on Black series, Arturo Luz drew heavily from the works of the acclaimed minimalist and brutalist artist Donald Judd. Here, Luz’s creations speak for themselves. They manage to follow the traditional tenets of minimalism wherein the piece’s primary goal is not to allude to any hidden meaning or message, but to direct the viewer towards the intrinsic nature of the art itself through shape, form, and space. He describes his works as “semi- representational and semi-abstract.” Both his sculptures and paintings are characterized by simple lines and geometric forms. Among his peers and contemporaries such as Manansala, HR Ocampo, and Legaspi, he was the one who veered towards pure abstraction. His Minimalism was a stark contrast to works of other artists who had a preference for bright colors and canvases full of forms from corner to corner. Luz’s aesthetic sensibilities were global and his subjects morphed from recognizable objects to mere artistic elements like lines and forms. Luz was described by art critic, Leo Benesa, as having "a Mandarin sensibility."