Provenance: Provenance: Private Collection, Manila

ABOUT THE WORK

While primarily known for his Diaphanous and Permutation series, considered as landmark abstractions in the Philippines, Romulo Olazo also dabbled in other non-objective experimentations, which are more gestural, frenetic, and spur-of-the-moment in their quality and immediacy. Untitled #287 provides another view of the master’s thought and artistic process, featuring thick, coruscating brushstrokes that reveal the occasional impasto. Crisscrossing and overlapping, some of the strokes, most notably in the left side of the painting, assert their presence beneath the gauzy layer of white pigment, conveying depth. It is the right side of the painting, however, that accumulates visual weight with its multiple layers and strokes of black paint, concentrating and unleashing gestural energy all at once. This abstract style in general and this painting in particular reveal a master in action wielding a brush in the intensity of the moment, guided by intuition and experience.