Homage to Edwin Coscolluela

presents

HOMAGE EDWIN COSCOLLUELA to

ART DIRECTOR

ASST. ART DIRECTOR

EXHIBITION TEAM

Thess Ponce

Roy Abrenica

Mariela Araza

CATALOGUE DESIGN

EXHIBITION NOTES

Silvana Ancelloti-Diaz

Natalie Cruz

Edgar Bautista

Gabriel Abalos

Jose Joeffrey Baba

Kyle Azarcon

Lec Cruz

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Images 061 2014 digital design on photo paper 200.66 x 121.92 cm / 79.06 x 48.04 in.

Art has a way of capturing a moment, an event, an experience that challenges how we visually perceive images beyond their forms, appearances and representations. Edwin Coscolluella’s works has managed to champion this notion throughout his entire artistic career, provoking the viewers’ eyes into optical bafflement and immersing them into his spacious but engulfing minimalistic compositions. Since the 1970s, Coscolluela has devoted himself into creating abstract works that continuously pushed the limits and borders of viewing a two-dimensional surface by opening the planar space to virtual movement; depicting cadence and motion; and morphing abstraction into Optical illusions (Op Art) and Kinetic Art.

His masterful way of employing the simplest elements with his compositions allowed him to create dynamic combinations between the positive and negative spaces within his works, translating into varying visual experience when seen at a distance and when viewed closely. This technique of abstraction relays his intent to create paintings that are like newspaper pictures - of having sharp, crisp and defined edges but changes into half-tones, dots, grains and blurred images at close range.

“Like life, my paintings have sharp or blurred edges.”

- Edwin Coscolluela

Images 231a (Edition 1 of 10) 2010 digital design on photo paper 190.50 x 121.92 cm / 75.06 x 48.04 in.

Images 268 (Edition 1 of 10) 2013 digital design on photo paper 208.28 x 121.92 cm / 82.06 x 48.04 in.

In his paper collages, we see how he employs his perceptual vision with the use of seemingly simple geometric and curvilinear forms along with the contrasting values of the positive and negative spaces. In Image 22, the viewer is given multidimensional option in interpreting the shapes within the composition, on one hand, the dominant black color can be seen as the background that highlights white rectangular shape on the lower left corner, or the perceiver may find the two triangular shapes set on opposing corners in black and white contrasting colors. The same could be seen on Image 23, the black octagonal shape simultaneously deploys the white triangles on every corner. The enigma of his works hides in the simplicity of his elements and then draws you in into the details where you see the dots close to the edges blur the defining lines.

His works go beyond the physical experience of deciphering what can or cannot be seen on the surface, rather they are cerebral in nature, touching the invisible imaginative universe of visual perception, capable of inducing a suggestive image outside of the picture plane. In Images 12-16, Coscolluela compels the eye into seeing curvilinear shapes, convex and concave forms but the audience’s vantage point provides a sense of illusion to the viewer. In Image 14, for instance, a vase-like shape becomes evident by virtue of the bright red colored surroundings, but at a distance, the mind is urged to see an entire black oblong cropped out from the picture. This multi-faceted way of approaching the artist’s work allows the democratization of interpretation, preserving the vitality and power of abstraction. Citing Coscolluela himself “... When people look at my works, I want them to feel and not just understand my compositions.”

Images

Images

Images

Images 281 (Edition 1 of 10) 2014 digital design on photo paper 149.86 x 289.56 cm / 59.04 x 114.09 in.

As a teacher and photographer, Coscolluela has been an early proponent of digital art, embracing the additional dimension of what modern technology can bring into his art making process. His use of digital art has allowed him to manipulate simple lines and shapes to create his Op Art, images that suggest motion generating from static objects or imagery. In Untitled # 56, a right-angled red triangle grounds our eye into the image but the receding white lines marking two sides of a large black right-angled triangle creates two opposing movement, one that draws the viewer into the depths of the black image and the other elevates you on top of an illusory tall black object. The crispness and preciseness of lines and their relative distance with each other has allowed flexibility, flow and a perpetuity of synchronous motion as seen in the artist’s works such as Images 064, Images 193 and Untitled #33. Through these works, Cosculluela’s pronouncements on digital art’s dynamism reverberates and solidifies his artistic legacy, “The colors of my composition can last up to a hundred years. Six compositions can be enlarged individually or composed into larger panels.”

Images 288 (Edition 1 of 10) 2014 digital design on photo paper 83.82 x 238.76 cm / 33.03 x 94.07 in. (left)

Images 164a (Edition 1 of 10) 2006 digital design on photo paper 190.50 x 121.92 cm / 75.06 x 48.04 in. (right)

Images 279 (Edition 1 of 10) 2014 digital design on photo paper 177.80 x 101.60 cm / 70.05 x 40.03 in.

GALLERIA DUEMILA was established in 1975 by Italian born Silvana Ancellotti-Diaz. Duemila means "twentieth century", and it was this vision that inspired Duemila's advocacy in promoting and preserving Philippine contemporary art. To date, it is the longest running commercial art gallery in the Philippines maintaining a strong international profile. With the vision to expose its artists locally and within the ASEAN region, Duemila complements its exhibits with performances, readings and musical events in its custom-built gallery in Pasay City, Manila.

Galleria Duemila takes pride in being the only local gallery to publish and mount retrospectives of artists as part of its advocacy in pursuing art historical research and scholarship. With the collaboration of institutions, Duemila has mounted the retrospectives of Roberto M.A. Robles (Ateneo Art Gallery, 2011), Dudley Diaz (Vargas Museum, 2009), Julie Lluch Dalena (Cultural Center of the Philippines, 2008). It has also published a book on Diosdado Magno Lorenzo (National Library of the Philippines, 2009) and produced a major Pacita Abad exhibition at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, 2004. T he gallery maintains close ties with museums throughout Asia, Australia, Europe, and the United States. Its futurist vision keeps it at the cutting-edge of Philippine art, making and archiving history as it happens.

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