Urban Art with a Pinoy Soul.

From Walt Disney to Victoria’s Secrets, from KFC to reality television, the American influence in the Philippines is unavoidable. If a green card is out of the question, a Mac Mansion in a new subdivision is the next best thing. And in this climate it is little wonder that contemporary Filipino art is about being urban, rather than Asian.

Kunstlerhaus & Other Recent Works, the current exhibition by Nestor Olarte Vinluan would equally be at home hanging on the walls of a Los Angeles or New York gallery. Although it does stretch the imagination to comprehend 2 adjacent Chelsea galleries exhibiting the same artist concurrently which Megamall’s Finale and West gallery’s have done for this exhibition..

That being said, the American trained abstract painter with minimalist leanings, Vinluan’s work does have some distinct Filipino undertones. In the 2 large panels of “From White Radiance”, which are hung vertically, distinct white brush strokes cavort within a confining circle, like spermatozoa in a Petri dish. This acrylic on canvas work is presented on mocca coloured background, of which the lower panel is several hues darker than the top one.

Likewise in “Gestures for a River” Vinluan employs 3 pieces of brown paper to evoke memories of a Pasig River ferry trip. The central paper has been formed into 2 cylinders on a vertical axis adorned with a few white brush strokes. The side pieces have been worked with a busy and chaotic mixture of dark grey and white brush work to which blue and red splattered drops of paint have been added. They have also been slashed to reveal the white canvas on which the whole work has been mounted.

With his smaller works, Vinluan, explores more painterly concerns. Like the lyrical 6 panels “Gestures for a Landscape” which starts with a handful of blue and grey brush strokes on a vertical axis and builds into a flourish of reds, ambers and greens at panel F. And then there is “Wolfgang”, a 16”x11” acrylic on canvas where 2 broad bush strokes, one red the other purple, represent the man over an abstract wash of his music.

Kunstlerhaus & Other Recent Works are on display at Finale Gallery and West Gallery, Level 4, Building A, Megamall until November 20. It is a testament to the quality of Vinluan’s work that they can be heard over the cacophony of cheering badminton fans and canned Christmas carols that invades from the bustling concourses.