Benjie Cabangis at Galerie Joaquin UP Town Center
One can easily be drawn to the highintensity surfaces, full-tilt coloration and the intersection of abstract and geometric forms of Benjie Cabangis’ works. The compositions of his paintings are seemingly independent of scale — small collages become large paintings — and color, shape and subject matter are combined to create an abstract topographical space. The artist approaches the process of painting by orienting to a meticulous formal visual standard of composition, color and form.
The gestural movements in Cabangis’ paintings can be described as lyrical fluency. The artworks each have their own distinctive feeling and often contain sensitive detailed markings that have been directly engraved and incorporated into the painting. All of Cabangis’ works are engaged with the topography of surface, a materialization of his trademark texture.
According to University of the Philippines Prof. Ruben DF Defeo, “Benjie Cabangis walks his viewers to an awesome world of colors, shapes and textures, artistic concerns and impetus that he has wondrously harnessed in his artmaking for decades now. For his latest art concoction, the artist brews into the creative cauldron huge and generous servings of studied arbitrariness, spicing the foray by directly confronting the very materiality of his chosen medium, acrylic.”
Benjie Cabangis’ works attest to his detailed study and adept mastery in recreating form and surface. Using various painting techniques and improvisation to build on and obscure the flatness of blank canvas, the artist recreates the seeming infinity of receding space, and the push and pull of shade and light. The power of Cabangis’ abstraction lies in their layered references and allusions. The artist often works on an actual imagery of an interior space or the structures of a building as a starting point, slowly dessolving the imagery through his intervention of exquisite layering to create subtle patinas, planes, light and shadows. The process alludes to the loss, displacement of places and memories.
“Tales of Topography” by Benjie Cabangis is on view until Dec. 10 with the Artist Reception tomorrow, Dec. 3, 6 p.m. at Galerie Joaquin UP Town Center, second floor, Phase 2, UP Town Center, Katipunan Ave, Diliman, QC.
For inquiries, call 8247-1109 or email galeriejoaquin@gmail.com.