MANILA, Philippines - Butch Payawal is another underappreciated artist in our midst. The deceptive simplicity of his style is easily swamped by the garishness and loudness of many of his colleagues?, and often the charm or serenity of his composition conceals the maverick within.

It had been some time since Payawal last mounted a solo exhibition. We understand he was out of the country in the last few years, working as creative director for a multinational agency in the Middle East. When he returned, we could see how his art-making had evolved.

His expressionist figures, Zen landscapes and flirtation with abstraction have given way to the naïf mode in his latest exhibit, ?The Dance of Life,? 13 pieces in oil on canvas, recently in Hiraya Gallery, 530 United Nations Ave., Ermita, Manila.

The series ostensibly depicts ballroom dancing, each piece showing a couple in acrobatic dance movements, rendered in rich color tonality of predominantly red, orange, gold, yellow, brown, with tinges of green and violet or accentuation of turquoise and cobalt-blue.

The action is as one sees in a picture book or a movie, while the line and coloration appear to have been derived from Payawal?s immersion in book illustration and printmaking.

The artist says this series is his portrait of the family, as metaphorized by man, woman and child caught in the whirling dance of life.

But his simplification of form possesses an edginess beyond naïf, making the figures look sinister, indeed. They may have the innocent charm of the typical naïf, but then, for whatever reason the artist may have, they brandish Latin phrases for titles, explicitly stamping each piece with gravitas.

In fact, the theatricality of Payawal?s composition, the overdramatic poses of the overwrought figures, doesn?t easily lend these pieces to naïf art. Consider ?Nonti Scordar di Me!? where the duo assumes the tragic posture of ?Tango Criminal.?

Also, the presence of the child is depicted only through tokens, such as the multicolored plastic ball and the toy sailboat in ?Avsit Invidia? 1-2, or the propeller airplane in ?Resourgam.? That should hint at the incompleteness of this family life.

Even if Payawal portrays levity, a certain heavy-handedness prevails. One piece, for instance, has the man in a jester?s cap and the woman in spangled ballerina costume, but he is greenish-skinned and she a ghostly white.

In another piece, the woman is in a bridal trousseau but she?s too spectral to be a blushing bride, while on the man?s thigh precariously perches what appears to be a sleeping cherub or a curling fetus.

This harsh and oppressive tone suggests that the artist may be offering a portrait of marriage, and we are seeing intimacy and coupling, but it is certainly not wedded bliss.

It is here where Payawal?s art goes beyond facile art-making and transcends mere decoration, as it rejects the fantasy world of the naïf and embraces gritty realism. Not contented with surface, he scratches through the depth?and that?s what differentiates the authentic artist from the poseur.