Executed through a span of four decades, yielding more than a staggering 25,000 in studies, sketches and paintings on canvas and paper; exploring imagery both abstract, figurative and their amalgam, Romulo Olazo’s Diaphanous works constitute an entire life production and in the annals of contemporary Philippine art, are unequalled as a sustained meditation on a focused theme, using an unswerving, determined technique.
Diaphanous B-CXX is a recapitulation of subjects and themes, but it is not in any way a mechanical repetition. If one would invite a musical comparison, it would come closest to the Theme and Variations Form as in the great oeuvre of the composer Maurice Ravel, particularly his Scheherazade and Bolero.
The process of layering that comes with this work of art is equivalent to the utmost scrutiny of these natural forms to the extent that it may undergo implosion or explosion, revealing its limits of magnitude or minutiae of detail. And the closer they became to the naked eye, the more organic they seem to become. The extremely thin films of color, applied to the form, lends to the sacral character of the work, as they interact overlapping sequences. In the same year of 1996, Olazo also launched his Diaphanous-Anthuriums and Permutated Anthuriums series in a one-man show at the Finale Art File.
Provenance: Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist