MANILA, Philippines ? A wild leap is taken by Jucar Raquepo in his art.

From esoteric abstraction, he has shifted to expressionist figuration in his latest show ?Amalgam Monsters,? six pieces in oil and acrylic on canvas and an installation in wood, plastic and enamel paint, until June 22 in Paseo Gallery at the Artwalk, L/4, Bldg. A, SM Megamall, Mandaluyong City.

From the open air of the racetrack of his Stuart Davis-like abstraction, we now enter the claustrophobic interior of a den. There is still his bold expressive colorism with patches of muted hues, but no more of the familiar broad planes of flat basic colors à la Ellsworth Kelly (except as can be found in the negative space surrounding the central image of solid figures).

The imagery is of canines at a table, either boozing, playing cards or billiards, dissecting a human cadaver, or reenacting the Last Supper. This is, of course, taken from those carpets and wall rugs brought home by overseas Filipino workerss from Saudi Arabia, which Raquepo has tweaked with his satirical brand of commentary on society, politics, show business, art and religion.

He says using this lowly house décor as central motif of his paintings is his way of amalgamating kitsch and high art. If anything, the creative synthesis demonstrates his skill in bringing complexity and vitality to the group portrait.

Unmistakable allusions

The allusions are unmistakable. There is the infamous midnight Cabinet of President Estrada in ?Corruption,? and the horse race that is ?American Idol? referenced in ?Validation.?

Leonardo?s ?Last Supper? is reimagined and transposed to the art world in ?Respect.? In lieu of Christ among His apostles is the hallowed master of the moment with a hanging lamp overhead serving as his halo.

Rembrandt?s ?Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp? is reconfigured in ?Figurative Illustration? (the biggest in the collection at 4 ft x 7 ft). This time the master artist is teaching his acolytes how to draw the human anatomy.
In ?Living and Dining,? the Last Supper has a suffering, dying Christ, and the décor includes those wooden giant fork, spoon and rosary beads ubiquitous in many a middle-class Filipino home.
These things are so funny if they?re not so sad.

Raquepo describes his composition as ??60s-hippie-Disney-graffiti-cartoons signs and symbols all in one Catholic-Pinoy-Baroque-macho-jeepney aesthetic.? But we can see he?s more sophisticated an artist than that.

Though we espy the heavy Pop Art influence (Richard Hamilton, Jim Dine, Wesselmann) as well as traces of abstraction and Graffiti Art (primitivist vignettes in the negative space, seemingly spray-painted titles in the pictorial frame), the dominant tone is expressionist.

Art theory and dogmatics

The artist also points out his incorporation of Mondrian and Malevich in the installation ?Cross.? The enlightened art lover would, of course, recognize Mondrian?s red, yellow and blue as well as Malevich?s red, white and black on the painted wood?but this time referencing the festive hues of the ?perya (carnival)?. (Yet another amalgamation, see?)

What?s more, the Holy Cross is wrapped in plastic tablecloth, and the divinity of Christ is suggested by the invisibility of His body, leaving only His feet trampling the snake (actually Mary?s role). Which shows Raquepo?s sophistication not just in art theory but also in dogmatics.

This exhibit, though, is not a sudden leap forward for the artist, but more of a return, as he had been doing figuration when he was starting in the 1990s, and had worked as graphic designer during a three-year hiatus from painting. In fact, his unique take on car racing and automotive detailing was more abstracted figuration than hard-core abstraction.

A Pitoy Moreno scholar, Raquepo graduated with a degree in Studio Arts, major in Painting, from University of the Philippines. Artists he admires range from the Postimpressionists and the Nabis (Van Gogh, Bonnard, Vuillard) to the Suprematists and the Post-Painterly Abstractionists (Kelly, Malevich, Nozkowski).

Through the years he has been cited at the Shell, Metrobank and Art Association of the Philippines competitions, and thrice nominated at the Ateneo Art Awards? which is more than enough validation of his art.