Provenance: Private Collection, Manila

ABOUT THE WORK

The late Alice Guillermo wrote in July/August 2002: "Ronald Ventura takes a close look at the male nude and finds in it drama and grace." (published in Realities: Ronald Ventura, Damiani, Bologna, Italy, 2011) For Ventura, the male nude in art is a highly complex subject. Although he also paints female nudes, he prefers to paint male subjects because he believes that they have a stronger residual taboo from which he aims to break free. For there inheres in them an artistic conviction that produces a thoughtful, environing mood, an emphatic allure that stirs the mind.” The plant itself spreads upwards over the entire space. It has a vigorous, lush character — its details luminous in white tones, signifying burgeoning organic growth that is reinforced by the vertical rhythms. The rising figure seems almost in danger of being consumed by the plant, the feathery details of which lessening this sense of menace. The figure is shown in richly graduated flesh tints. Furthermore, the high tonal contrasts transgress the pellucid smoothness of the body at the same time they bring into sharp contrast the effect of light on the body with the night’s intimate sensuous shadows. All in an attempt to naturalize the presence of naked figures in a landscape. Ventura’s style in this work is characterized by painstaking detail, high finish and an emphasis on botanical accuracy. Anatomy and vegetation become interchangeable, and in celebration of this magical kaleidoscope Ventura’s brushwork becomes lighter yet fleeting.