ARTURO LUZ
In 1988, Luz went on an extended visit to various Asian countries. He visited sites of ancient cities and temples in Asia. These included Sukhothai in Thailand, Borobodur in Indonesia, and Angkor Wat in Cambodia. With these visits as inspiration, he brought his cityscapes to a different level. What resulted was his Cities of the Past series. Cid Reyes, writing in the book Arturo Luz, describes what happened next: “Inspired by his Asian travels, Luz constructed a utopian architecture out of the ancient temples, forts, and palaces that have survived the onslaught of warriors, olden and contemporary, and the ravages of weather and time.”
Luz started working on his Temples series after he went on an extended trip to the Indian subcontinent almost two decades ago when he was impressed by its physical beauty. There he saw literally hundreds of Buddhist and Hindu temples. What he found quite attractive were the architectural forms of stupas which like their counterparts, the pagoda, are spiritual monuments designed to symbolize the enlightened mind and the path to its realization.
Luz describes his resultant paintings as recollections of his Asian pilgrimage. He underscores that these are, however, imaginary landscapes. “They are not literal, but rather composite images from my memory.”
Included in his Temples series are paintings about Prambanan, the largest Hindu temple compound located in Central Java in Indonesia. He has also done paintings about the temples in Palitana. Located in the Indian state of Gurajat, the Palitana temples are considered the most sacred pilgrimage place by the Jain community in India. Exquisitely carved in marble, there are a total of 1,250 temples located on the Shetrunjaya hills. There are also hundreds of other temples in the adjoining hills and locations.
Arturo Luz has also done paintings about Jaipur, Rajasthan, Jaisalmer and other ancient sites from his Asian visits. Luz, who was named National Artist for painting in 1997, went to the UST School of Fine Arts, then received a scholarship at the California College of Arts and Craft in Oakland for a three-year diploma in art program. He continued his education at the Brooklyn Museum Art School in New York in 1950 and at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere in Paris in 1951.
Luz is recognized worldwide. He is a three-time first prize winner at the Arts Association of the Philippines Annual Competition from 1950s to the 1960s. He also received scholarship grants among them from Spain in 1953, Italy in 1963, and the United States in 1963. He is also the recipient of the Republic Cultural Heritage Award for Painting in 1966, the Patnubay ng Kalinangan Award for Painting from the City of Manila in 1981, and the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Gawad for the Visual Arts in 1989. He was awarded the Order of Chevalier des Arts et Letres by the French government in 1978. |
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Cities of the Past
Acrylic on Canvas 24 x 36 in
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Trio Performing
Acrylic on Canvas 36 x 48 in
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Performers: Three Musicians
Acrylic on Canvas 36 x 48 in
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Imaginary Landscape
Acrylic on Paper 24 x 36 in
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