Jaime Roque’s ‘Kaleidoscope’ at Galleria Nicolas
Painter Jaime Roque gives a fresh interpretation to the concept of op art. Roque uses this optical approach on new works in his latest one-man exhibition, “Kaleidoscope,” the culmination of a career rooted in optical experimentation and an interest in mirror reflections of light and symmetry.
Jaime Roque has long been attracted to the symmetry of optical reflections. A pioneer of realism, he was an early follower of the American realist Andrew Wyeth and as such he developed a skill set suited to this endeavor, leading the Manila Wyeth School along with prominent artists Emmanuel Llado, Lito Barcelona, and Nestor Leynes in the 1970s. His evolution of Wyeth’s sensibilities to fit a distinctly Filipino outlook came to be known as the “magic realist” school — in small part owing to its literary cousin through the a shared acknowledgment of the simultaneous existence of magic and reason. In this sense, Roque (who was trained in the Fine Arts program of the Philippine Womens University) possessed a temperament that was ripe for abstraction.
Roque’s aesthetic transition from realist to abstractionist is, in part, due to the restlessness of an experimental mind. Noting that mimetic depictions are, in reality, interplays between subject and light, he then changes the perception to not only adhere primarily to light, but also the systematic (and in many ways, mathematic) spacing of form. The resulting patterns play with our sense of depth, distance, and perspective.
A great introduction to a prolific artist, “Kaleidoscope” is also a manifestation of the power of optical art.
The exhibit opens with an artist reception on July 8, Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Galleria Nicolas in Ayala Center, Makati City, the exhibition will run until Friday, July 17. Galleria Nicolas is located at the 3/F Art Space of Glorietta 4, Ayala Center, Makati City. They may be reached through their landline at (632) 6250273, e-mail at info@gallerianicolas.com, or website at www.gallerianicolas.com.