ABOUT THE WORK

The Diaphanous series is, no doubt, Romulo Olazo’s main and lasting contribution to Philippine abstraction. Through a technique only known to the artist, he would apply oil paint on the surface of the canvas and achieve his magisterial translucent forms. The enigmatic part of his process is that the forms, while multi-layered, never succumb to opacity. This is particularly true in this work. While the black background appears as a dominating presence, the diaphanous forms, though subdued, vertical, and thin, never lose their transparency. They float on the field like gossamer presences. The viewer is brought to a resounding, almost spiritual silence, no doubt cultivated by the awe accorded by Olazo’s hypnotic mastery of the painting medium. The work invites the viewer to mentally review the painting process as he strips layer after layer, like thin veils of illusion until nothing but the dark background remains, and then reverses the process as the painting is once more recomposed and one appreciates the total image in depth. Olazo has often modified the basic layering process by crumpling and folding the fine diaphanous tissues, by heightening tonal play in thin facets, and by superimposing the gossamer sheets to stimulate overlapping surfaces. The total effect is one of sumptuousness and total elegance.