ROMULO OLAZO | Permutation series II no. 115, B-XVII

Christie's Hong Kong, 24 May 2008, Lot 76
Acquired from the above sale by the present owner
Private Asian Collection

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Valentine Willie Fine Art, Romulo Olazo: The Truth is Still in the Beautiful, 20 June - 14 July 2007

Romulo Olazo: The Truth is Still in the Beautiful, Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, 2007, p. 30, color illustration

This work is in good overall condition as viewed. Framed.
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A rare departure from the artist’s prolific Diaphanous series, the present lot is an impressive ode to line and abstraction in its purest format. Olazo embarked on the Permutation series in the 1990s and sought to distill his translucent, blurred forms to reveal the underlying thought process. Here we see Olazo’s severely abstracted subject matter, reduced to acute shapes, moving within shifting yet sharp outlines. Swerving and pivoting lines move acrobatically across the composition, the linear web created is at once random yet purposeful. Olazo's monochromatic palette of light grey overlapping structures float and carve into the dark background. Against the almost black space, the artist sets loose a stun of lines in rhythmic succession. Olazo’s artistic process is ardently revealed, evocative of certain aspects of minimalism and geometric abstraction. Indeed while Olazo’s embrace of sheer hues in his Diaphonous series might call to mind the ‘transparent cubism’ of Vicente Manansala, Permutation Series II No. 115. B-XVII shows his fascination with condensed movement and curvatures not dissimilar to Fernando Zobel or H.R. Ocampo’s mature works. Exemplified in the current painting is Romulo Olazo’s unique abstract vernacular, heightening simplicity into clarity.