REAL DEAL: MORE THAN ‘THE BASICS’
To reflect society without need for pretension is the art that realists hope to visualize. Realism, as most people find it, is part of the fundamentals of art which ironically takes a lifetime to master despite it being dubbed the “basics.” However, the fundamentals aren’t necessarily the basics, rather they are important things one should never forget.
With the influx of varying techniques and ways art can be portrayed, realism has been often overlooked; much worse abandoned in the pursuit of modernism. As a result, realism has again become a movement as it used to be. However, instead of being the first wave in the pursuit of modernism, it is now hoping to preserve culture and tradition and portray it like how it used to be.
This is the goal of a newborn group named Aroma Art Academy. Its name is based on the thorny plant which was used to crown Jesus Christ during his persecution.
“The group started in Toledo. It was named Aroma because our studio was located beside the sea and the area was
surrounded with the plant Aroma,” said Orley Ypon, one of Cebu’s most prominent artists who hails from Toledo City. His love for realism prompted him to initiate the formation of the group in December 2016. Artists like Darby Alcoseba, Randy Plarisan, Mark Belicario, Renulo Pautan, Luis King, Emar Lacorte and Crispin Bobier are some of the members of the group.
As a movement, the group is wary of the effects of every single stroke consistent with the kind of technique and discipline it employs to provide an artwork. To further its goals, Aroma organized its first exhibit as a group entitled Rebirth which was launched on Dec. 14 and will be displayed until Jan. 10, 2018 in Qube Gallery located in Crossroads, Banilad, Cebu City.
“Cebu used to be known for being outstanding in realism. However, recently, many people have been shifting to modernism and a huge effort to push Cebu to modernism can be felt. The traditional technique of realism is now slowly being replaced. With this increase in modernism, varying abuses of the technique can also be observed,” said Orley.
The abuse in modernism has been used to promote the self rather than the art itself. “It’s in realism where the talent of the artist can be fully measured. It is here where we can truly know if he is indeed skilled and talented. Because of its (modernism) popularity some people take the shortcut and immediately hope to earn money from it as how it has been advertised,” said Orley.
Being part of the fundamentals of art, realism is the training of skill, patience and the honing of talent and before one can forego of all the rules set by the traditional arts one must be able to know how to follow them.
“This is what has happened to art; simply because it’s meant to be modern a few people have the notion that you can simply throw paint on a blank canvas and you can call yourself an artist. For realists, they become confused as to what is it that art should be especially when it starts to seem like realism is being discouraged. And for the faint of heart, they eventually move in a different path hoping to evolve,” added Orley.