Philippine Art Trek's Maelstrom: The Monumental in Philippine Art
'A maelstrom is a very powerful whirlpool or large swirling body of water.' Maelstrom, part of the Philippine Art Trek series, successfully brought in monumental works from Philippines, and I was hugely awestruck by the immensity of it all! After all, on exhibit are works of art in epic proportions (214x427 cm or bigger)...not the typical drawing-room variety. If paintings could literally speak, then this batch is on super loud-speaker mode albeit the type that vibrates and echoes only with pleasant sound. The messages are rich and multi-layered too - the exhibit being a cross-sectional and cross-generational representation of Philippine art. Altogether Maelstrom leaves a wonderful and uplifting sensorial experience. I've always been in awe at the knack of Pinoy artists in creating deceptively simple visual arts, but which upon closer inspection have profound messages. 'Line Up' (shown below), for example, is neat, neutral, and symmetrical. It is suppo...