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The Reincarnation of Carlo Magno
From painting Churchyards, bell towers, and courtyards, the artist, the latest to be accepted at Sotheby’s for auction, has made a giant leap to abstract art. JACK TEOTICO reports
It started with an inspiration from a Vermeer painting. It was a little less than 30 years ago. Carlo Magno has just graduated from a course of Fine Arts at the Philippine Women’s University, the same source of such outstanding artists as Ibarra de la Rosa, Raul Lebajo, and Prudecio Lamaroza, when he saw Vermeer’s painting of The Lace Maker. He was embarking on his own painting career when this happened.
FINDING THE LIGHT
Magno was so enthralled by the Dutch master’s work, researching and reading up on various artworks about Vermeer, who was ascribed by many art historians as the "master of light." "I found it so fascinating," Magno enthuses. In a Vermeer work, one can see light bouncing off certain objects. There is also reflected light as well as an internal source of light within the painting itself.
The result was that he began painting highly inspired works on interiors of old houses, windows, antique furniture, and a whole array of subjects, which highlighted his main concern: the source of light in a painting.
Then he discovered Richard Estes and Winslow Homer. From these artists he was inspired to do landscapes. These influences, plus his interest in interiors, had Carlo Magno paving the way in painting what art writers refer to as "urban landscapes" or "urban realism."
Magno become quite successful in his chosen directions. His following grew and his works were in great demand in many art galleries. He became a grand prize winner at the Hispanidad Art Center as well as the first prize in a YMCA-sponsored art competition for his painting titled Bayanihan. His work never failed to elicit praises for its distinct creative imagery and thoughtful clarity. Through the years, his subjects have been diverse, but they were always highlighted by day-to-day objects, such as batibot chairs, a fountain in a churchyard, a cart, or a pail of water. When transformed by the artist’s highly creative brush, however, they became symbols of nostalgia and romanticism. It was at the height of Magno’s success in painting such objects that he began feeling that as an artist he wanted to do more. His search felt incomplete and he came to the personal conclusion that what he was doing was turning out to be a dead end. After turning painting churchyards, interiors, vistas, ancestral homes, bell towers, and courtyards, what else could he do? Carlo Magno began asking himself.
INTO THE UNKNOWN
This is where he felt the dilemma lay. In representational art, what one sees with the naked eye is what usually come out in a painting given some creative changes due to the artist’s own style. Carlo Magno, however, wanted to do more. He was already becoming unhappy with what he was painting.
He has always been a painter to whom, injecting emotion and feeling in each artwork is very important. After exhausting his chosen subject matter, Carlo Magno was at a crossroads in his life. Does he abandon his already successful style and take a giant leap into the unknown? How will the public accept it?
In 2003, for his fifteenth one-man show, Magno made that giant leap. He decided to explore the world of abstract art. Aptly titled "Transformation," the show surprised collectors and critics alike. The thirty works he prepared for the "Transformation" still contained his rich exuberant colors, but there were no more recognizable images of interiors or courtyards.
In effect, what Magno had done was to reinvent himself. Over the past thousand of years since the early cave drawings, artist had tried to capture reality by graphically trying to imitate what they saw with their eyes. During the twentieth century, however, artists began seeking new ways to depict reality that they felt were traditional figurative and representational methods were capable of capturing.
This was also the time when there were great strides being made in the fields of science, commerce and industry, physics, psychology, biology and mathematics. This was the time after the industrial revolution and the time when radical ideas, such as those of Darwin and Freud, were put forth.
No longer were artists content with showing objects as they are. Artist wanted to look into the internal and hidden relationship between things. How does one paints serenity, tranquility, joy and happiness, and a whole range of emotions and feelings? Mondrian, Jackson, Pollock, Barnett Nuewman, Kandinsky, and Paul Lee, actually wanted to explore the spiritual angle behind their intended subjects.
IN SEARCH OF SERENITY
Coming from a different era, Magno found himself in the exact dilemma. Perhaps he expected it otherwise but the past three years have been far from turbulent as far as his artistic career is concerned.
His influences changed. New names such as Japanese artist Kenzo Okada, Saito, and Spanish gestural abstractionist Antonio Tapiez, Luis Feito, and Manolo Millares have been added to his list of art heroes. What Magno did bring to his new artistic direction was his use of direct and indirect lighting, contrast, composition, and harmony and the creative use of the horizon, if at all, in his paintings. These elements, however, are now rendered in abstract forms.
Five successful and sold-out one-man shows later, Magno is now ready to embark on his twenty-first one-man show. Reception has been no less than awesome. His works now adorn many top corporate boardrooms and offices in Makati and Ortigas Center as well as in many newly built modern houses at upscale villages like Green Meadows, Corinthian Gardens, Valle Verde among others. Condominium dwellers as well have come to like his works.
The leap of faith, interestingly, is most certainly paying off. Now, in his "second life" as an artist, Magno continues to reap recognition and acclaim. The latest accolade is the acceptance of one of his works "Peaceful Duet (East & West)" at the forthcoming Sotheby’s auction this October in Singapore. In August, he has a major exhibit at Art Space at the third level in Glorietta 4. The show titled "Rocks of Ages" opens on the third of August at 6 p.m. It runs until the seventeenth of August. This, in itself, is no mean feat, considering that there are only a handful of abstract art pieces from the Philippines chosen for auction. As these artists include the likes of Arturo Luz, Jose Joya, H.R. Ocampo, Nena Saguil, Pacita Abad, and Linggoy Alcuaz, Carlo Magno is in good company, indeed. |
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