World in abstract (Sabong News)

It is typical in a Filipino setup to think that pursuing arts means a life of challenges, hunger, and chances, especially back in the day when there were only a few galleries and art competitions to turn one’s passion into profit. That’s how seasoned visual artist Raul Isidro saw the creative world prior to holding a paintbrush. But that didn’t stop him from making painting an everyday affair. “This is a profession I have chosen. So, I decided that I’d be an artist every day,” says Isidro. ”You can’t just wait for clients to come before you paint. This is a profession. This is not a hobby.” His life as an artist started in college. He wanted to study Fine Arts, but with the constant reminder of the “gutom” part of an artist’s life, he also took Advertising at the University of Santo Tomas. Raul entered the art scene in the late 1960s. In 1969, the year everyone looked up to witness man’s first landing on the moon, the artist launched his first solo show titled “Lunar Orbit.” From 1968 to 1977, he taught Fine Arts at the Philippine Women’s University. After becoming the dean of the College of Fine Arts, he left the role to become a full-time artist. In the span of his five-decade career in Philippine arts, Raul has a prime muse and that’s nature. As he said, “There are so many inspirations you can get from the environment,” and he collected them all and moved them into his canvas. From rock formations and evergreen forests to the beauty submerged in the sea, he depicted these worlds the best way he could, through abstraction. For him, nature is already wonderful and it is the job of an artist to dig more of its charms and present them. Even looking at the sky, where everything is white and blue, he sees a world of hues and translates it through his work, literally answering the question: Can you paint with all the colors of the wind? “[Artists should] look at a subject matter and think of all the possibilities but still create balance,” Raul says. “Abstract, that’s your own. You do not wait for other elements, you develop your own” This theme continues to this day, as evidenced by his just-concluded exhibition dubbed “Resonance” at Galerie Joaquin at Powerplant Mall at Rockwell Center in Makati City. Through it, Raul puts his focus on spirituality, consciousness, and chronology, making pieces that are full of energy that can change a vibe of a space. According to him, although he didn’t intend to make it a show, it took months to craft the pieces displayed on the exhibit. Looking at his works, viewers are taken to a colorful abstract world inspired by what Raul sees. His Green Landscape II piece, while far from what one would expect from a landscape painting, still embodies the Earth’s natural beauty with its colors and composition. Blue Sky over Calbayog Bay gives everyone a glimpse of a scene from his hometown in Samar. While “Yellow Wave looks like an image of the sun that is about to rise or set. “As an artist, I learned how to adjust myself, to discipline myself in facing a blank canvas with colors,” Raul says. “Ganun lang ang gagawin mo (That’s all you need to do). Paint every day, solve the colors, and create new hues.” At the age of 79, Raul proves there are still more subjects in nature that can be painted on his canvas. As he works in his studio seven days a week, people can expect to see more wonderworlds come to shape from his imagination.