Renato Habulan's "Alla Prima"

In the second of the three preludes to the 2010 survey exhibit celebrating his 30 years in art, Renato Habulan makes deft use of the palette knife to showcase both his skill with the tool and his virtuosity as an artist. The exhibit, entitled “Alla Prima”, features a selection of small oil paintings completed in one sitting.

Habulan refers to the pieces as little jewels, each one associated with an event in his life. With five tubes of color and often only a single palette knife, Habulan creates vistas imbued with a certain warmth. Most notable is his calculated stroke and mastery of restraint. He calls it “impit”, the same suppressed atmosphere that pervades the social realist paintings he is known for. He looks back on his experience of poverty as a child and as a young family man during the dictatorship, and explains the reason behind his tempered response. “I grew up in that harsh reality, but I didn't want to succumb to its violence,” he recalls. “You can be calm. It's the other side of rebelliousness.”

Despite his activism during the Martial Law era and beyond, Habulan manifests pacifist tendencies in his work that cannot be overlooked. The Habulan piece internalizes the struggle and never screams in anger. Somehow the held-back emotions do not hinder artistic expression and the comfort with the technique from shining through. The same is true for the landscapes and seascapes in “Alla Prima”, though they do not reflect the somber visages and the fine brushwork common to the artist's larger works. “The only thing SR (social realist) is the mood,” he points out.

The three exhibits preceding Habulan's retrospective have a curious reverse development. From mixed media in “Takatak” to paintings in “Alla Prima” to drawings in the next exhibit, Habulan believes he is working towards the purest form, as the core of the idea is encapsulated in drawing, the framework his art hinges on. As in last April's “Takatak” exhibit, “Alla Prima” reveals the overarching sentimentality present in Habulan's oeuvre. Here is a mix of studio works and on-the-spot paintings, many from plein air sessions.

“Painting in your most favorite place, and with your students...What is important are the memories,” he says. While the value of his achievements as mentor and educator cannot be measured in concrete terms, these little jewels crystallize on canvas the moments every teacher treasures. Measured against the four C's that determine a diamond's worth—cut, color, carat and clarity—Habulan's alla prima works hold up remarkably well in their corresponding knifework, color, value and the sureness of creative expression. Ultimately, the exhibit proves that even with limited time, tools and pigments, the artist can create polished gems, revealing another facet of Habulan's rare gift.

-Abby Yao


“Alla Prima” opens on July 14, 2009 at The Crucible Gallery, SM Megamall, 6pm. The show will be on view until July 25, 2009.