ALMOST A YEAR AFTER his first solo exhibition at Ayala Museum, artist Raymond Legaspi is back with works even more vibrant and colorful.
His successful debut last year, “Daster,” featured exaggeratedly fat ladies in varying poses, all wearing colorful versions of the housedress. This time, he features men and women dancing the tango.
“The dancing characters were from one of my sketches a long time ago, and I thought it would be a nice follow-up to the ‘Daster’ show,” explains the former advertising executive. “The relaxed Ilonggo lifestyle is best shown with women in dasters. And I grew up seeing this on my mother, my sisters and my titas.”
The “Tango” show was inspired by childhood memories.
“During the early ’70s, there were dance activities in our community in Silay City,” he recalls. “Fiesta dances where everyone—including our house help, family driver and farm employees—would join. Women would be in their fancy floral dresses, tall beehive hair, and the men in their colorful long-sleeved shirts with oversized collars and oiled hair.”
In “Raymond Legaspi Does the Tango,” which just opened at the Ayala Museum, 20 pieces are be on exhibit, we won’t be surprised to see the audience step, swivel and turn from one artwork to another, joining the beat of the happy people from all walks of life painted on his canvases.
“I have trained myself to do art that needs no explanation and I have been successful many times. Remember, I came from advertising where if you don’t hit your audience they’ll flip the page or change the channel,” he says.
No angst
“I don’t have an exact academic explanation for my work, but I guess it is apparent I have no angst or deep, profound reasons,” explains Legaspi, who began painting full-time four years ago, after almost 20 years as an art and creative director for a number of leading agencies. “Though I did paint on and off way before, as far I can remember.”
These days, he starts working as early as 6 a.m. until noon and again right after lunch. “But in between I force myself to have breaks for tea and move around the house doing non-creative things like checking e-mails, playing with the dogs or doing a quick errand,” he says.
“If I still feel creative, I would do some sketches for future works,” he adds. “But I visualize ideas right after I wake up in bed in the morning. I think the ideas are clearer during that time.”
Legaspi says it’s easier to draw inspiration from the things around him now that he’s concentrating full-time on his art.
“Since I started, it was really a struggle, an inner struggle. I struggled to be very Filipino, to be original. I was trying to find inspiration everywhere,” he recalls.
“From books, movies, the Internet, even from my travels. Then it struck me that I should be true to myself. I should do art that I know by heart. That’s when the ‘Daster’ paintings came to life.”
Quick strides
Since he launched his career as a painter, Legaspi has had a one-man show at the La Salle Museum Bacolod and joined group shows, including one in February at the newly opened Tin-aw Gallery in Makati. He also made it to the Top 10 in the Philip Morris Art Awards in the Visayas this year.
On June 12, he will be participating in the Art Trek program in Singapore, where a number of art galleries exhibit Philippine art to celebrate Independence Day.
But while there seems to be no looking back for Legaspi as an artist, he still enjoys doing the non-creative side of his career, like taking charge in organizing his own exhibit.
He did all marketing, posters, invites and packing for his Ayala Museum exhibit last year. It’s the same this year.
“Organizing my show on my own is like when I was in advertising minus the paintings and a team of 20-30 specialists. I was an art director/ creative director for nearly 20 years and it’s all about conceptualizing, executing and organizing art for a client. It’s just the same. Art viewed by people,” he says.
Why the tango
In this exhibit, Legaspi still uses the exaggeratedly large figures that have become his signature style.
“It’s very important for me that my work should be original. Some say it’s Van Gogh-ish but it’s just the brushstroke technique. Some say it’s Botero. Maybe a little bit. But Picasso also painted big women. The Chinese propaganda art, too,” he reasons.
He says he’s not a dancer, but the tango was top of mind when he tried to think of a dancing theme or title. “And it’s sexier,” he adds. He also remembers that, as a child, “when I watched a dancing show, may it be a contest or a stage show, I really find it amusing to see heavier people dance better. Their movements are sexier and with form.”
Legaspi is in Manila to open his exhibit, but will fly to Bacolod soon after to return to his studio and paint some more. He says he has not regretted turning his back on a successful Makati career for a simple life in Bacolod City, where he goes for the paintbrush every chance he gets.
“But I don’t paint at night even if I wanted to, because insects fly into my wet painting! They are attracted to and fly around my working lamps,” he tells us. “So on some nights I would go unwind with some artist friends, painters and performance artists, and discuss how to save the world.”
