An engaging highlight of the art exhibition “Lakbay: Voyages Into the Absolute With Nena Saguil,” running from Feb. 9 to 12 at Discovery Primea in Makati, is a series of talks featuring seven of the nine internationally based Filipino artists whose works are on display.
Presented by Art House, which founder and chief executive officer Carlo Pineda describes as a creative platform dedicated to cultural exchange and community engagement, “Lakbay” showcases rarely seen works by Nena Saguil, a pioneering Filipino modernist and abstract artist who lived and worked in Paris for more than 40 years until her death in 1994 at age 79.
Pineda. (SHARED PHOTO)
Accompanying her oeuvre, on loan from the Saguil Foundation, are paintings and mixed-media works by Jana Benitez, Rose Cameron, Kim Cruz, Lizza May David, John Wayne Forte, Marissa Gonzalez, Racso Jugarap, Kulay Labitigan and Jaclyn Reyes.
The talks offer the public insight into the creative processes, habits, challenges and personal journeys of these artists as they navigate their careers abroad.
Saguil herself was said to have once offered to work as a domestic helper to afford rent for her small Paris apartment.
The schedule of artist talks is as follows: Forte and Gonzalez on Feb. 9 from 4 to 6 p.m.; Cruz and Reyes on Feb. 10 from 4 to 6 p.m.; Labitigan on Feb. 11 from 4 to 6 p.m.; Cameron and David on Feb. 12 from 4 to 6 p.m.
Some of the participating artists feel a deep connection to Saguil’s journey.
Nena Saguil, untitled, 1978. (SHARED IMAGE)
Benitez once said, “All artists know we don’t make our art — it comes from within us. We have the tremendous, humbling, insane privilege of just showing up and having it come through us.”
Saguil, reflecting on her affinity for the color blue, told art critic Cid Reyes, “I did not choose it. I felt it. I am very intuitive, but only in the sense that the mind has foretold what the hand should do.”
Jugarap admires Saguil’s pioneering spirit. “Her courage to carve her own path and explore abstraction at a time when it wasn’t widely embraced in Philippine art is remarkable,” he said. “Her move to Paris and her ability to stay rooted in her identity while exploring new ideas remind me of my own journey and artistic practice.”
Cameron, meanwhile, draws inspiration from Saguil’s artistic approach.
“Like Nena Saguil, I find kinship in the process — the repetitive, meditative nature of her circular forms, which still possess a freshness and uniqueness in every piece,” she said. “I strive for the same within my work, particularly through my focus on sampaguita flowers and the intricately abstract weaving motifs that reflect both tradition and innovation.
Nena’s work holds no predetermined ‘finish line.’ Instead, there exists an intuitive pursuit of harmony and balance that signals when a piece is complete. The process mirrors this. Hours of meticulous detail, layer upon layer of expression, culminate in a moment of certainty — the painting reveals when it is ready.
“Like her, I find immense joy in the process itself: the act of painting, the passage of time spent creating, and the undeniable sense that nothing feels as right as being immersed in the work.”
