The term Diaphanous, from the Greek words dia meaning “through” and phainein meaning “to show”, is but a perfect name to christen Romulo Olazo’s spectacular artistry that evolved from the artist’s intermarriage of graphic processes of serigraph and collage intaglio that the artist crafted in 1972.
In this exquisite work of art from his Untitled Series, Olazo masterfully juggles transparency and opacity, often said to be an essential part of the Asian aesthetic which plays on light and dark, as in Japanese art, for instance, in the famous treatise In Praise of Shadows by Junichiro Tanizaki.
As narrated from the book Romulo Olazo: “Olazo experimented by switching pigment types, from the traditional printer’s ink that registered flat and opaque images to the painter’s oil pigments that created translucent layers. This allowed him to achieve effects of light and texture. He then experimented further by cutting old newspapers as stenciled patterns.
Pigment is applied with a brush or by a single run of the squeegee to as many as five layers...The technique may be likened to age-old painting technique of glazing wherein translucent layers of oil paint are applied thinly and evenly until it builds up to the desired tone and texture.”
A symphonic vision of light, likened to sheets of gossamer veils comprises the angelic wings with ruffling feathers; an exquisite piece of divinity in the fate of human hands. Indeed, a haunting reinvention of the Modern Master.
Provenance: Provenance: Private Collection, Manila