THROUGH over a decade of participation in numerous group shows, Azor Pazcoguin now takes a formal bow with his first solo exhibition.

The significance of such an event cannot be underestimated: It is an artist's official declaration of his status. Thence, labels such as ?Sunday Painter? and ?Hobbyist? no longer hold water, and, in fact, become meaningless. Only a solo exhibition can erase such vacuous distinctions.

Pazcoguin's title show, ?Karaniwang Tao? (Ordinary Folks), betokens an artlessness that seems to befit his subject: ordinary folks whose presence one hardly notices, if at all. As such, their absence from our own lives is never felt. But in Pazcoguin's art, the plainness of their lives finds expressive resonance in the artist's individual treatment and rendition.

What gives these paintings a surprising freshness, despite the fact that other Filipino artists have previously painted the subject, is Pazcoguin's formally designed composition, deploying such graphic devices as cropping, framing, extreme close-ups which resolve the figures into abstract forms, and geometric bands which bisect space, assigning weight and gravity to the overall design.

All these graphic motifs are in sumptuous display in works such as ?Dahong Palay,? ?Mandaragat? and ?Batang Lobo.? Visages of the farmers, fishermen and vendors are ?effaced? by strategically placed elements such as head caps, native hats, a towel, or shirt characteristically wound tightly around the head.

The play on forms is not subservient to his choice of colors, no matter that Pazcoguin's reds, oranges, yellows, pinks and blues are quietly exalted in his composition. ?Isang Kahig, Isang Tuka,? a triptych, is practically a testament to his sympathy with the subject of farmers and fisherman.

Turning to a more serious theme, albeit featuring his trademark ?karaniwang tao,? Pazcoguin fastens his attention on the religious wars that continue to divide us as a people. In his work ?One Blood,? the viewer is confronted by the images of a monk and a Muslim girl.

Whether Pazcoguin will venture further into an exploration of social, cultural or economic issues remains to be seen.

Meantime, there is no denying the succulence of his chosen images. His so-called ?Moon? paintings what Pazcoguin describes as his ?unending series? are a tableaux of smoothly glazed mangoes ready for the picking. Such paintings hit home, evoking pleasurable memories as well as aesthetic delights.

A professionally trained physical therapist, his own therapy is his art.