BYE-BYE "KUTKOT"

By Arnel Mirasol

Supremacy of Eve, 2006, acrylic on paper, 30 X 22 inches, Elvira Gonzaga collection

Beginning 2008, I began to wean myself away from the small brush technique - fondly called "kutkot" hereabouts - I used in my previous artworks.  (see sample above)  I sort of grew tired of that obsessive technique , and also felt that I have already exhausted all the possibilities of realism. I began looking at art with a modernist more sophisticated eye, seeing beauty in reduction and distortion. The first products of my tentative foray into modernism were my appropriations of a few famous nudes by the masters. A prime example would be the series I did on Titian's Venus of Urbino, which I first painted as an obese Venus in the manner of Fernando Botero, but which I trimmed later into a slimmer though still voluptuous nude (below).

Venus of Boracay, 2008, oil on canvas, 33 X 24 inches, Lorna Torralba-Titgemeyer collection

His Serenade, 2008,  acrylic on paper, 12.5 X 12.5 inches, Francisco dela Cruz collection

My Serenade, 2009, oil on canvas, 35 X 35 inches, Jules Felix collection

I didn't stopped there. I continue to subject my human figures to further manipulation and reduction. Now, the figures in my paintings, especially the female ones, are a bit cartoony and very slim, but are still seen as seductive, because of the overly emphasis on their hips and other feminine assets. (see samples below)

Decline and Fall of the Greek Trumpeter, 2008, acrylic on paper, 9 X 14 inches, Jules Felix collection

                         

Sand Dune Concerto, 2009, oil on canvas, 8 X 10 inches, Sari Ortiga collection

Bloody Mary, 2009, oil on canvas, 8 X 10 innches, Sari Ortiga cllection

Maria Clara and ther Spirit of Woodstock,  2012, oil on canvas, 36 X 36 inches, my collection

DKNY Express, 2012, oil on canvas, 18 X 24 inches, Ray Espinosa collection

The unifying thread discernible in these later paintings, aside from my concern with themes of music, and courtship and seduction- a far cry from the angry and overtly political tones of the paintings of my youth - was my use of cubist and pop art devices like loud coloration, hard-edged lines, overlaps and tangents, geometric and textile patterns, and variously textured brushstrokes. However, the praises heaped on Miss Butterfly (below), an illustration I did for Alamat ng Palay induced me to switch back somewhat to realism- but without resorting to all the "kutkutans" that used to delight me a lot in the past.

Miss Butterfly, 2010, oil on canvas, 24 X 33 inches, Segundo Matias Jr. collection