MAGNO’S “THEORY OF MIND” OPENS MARCH 30 IN SINGAPORE
Internationally renowned abstract artist Carlo Magno opens Galerie Joaquin Singapore’s summer season with a special show titled “Theory of Mind”. Slated to open Friday, March 30, at 7 pm. “Theory of Mind” features 18 artworks done by the artist especially for Singapore.
Magno is one of the country’s leading abstract artists and is one of the select few whose works have been chosen for inclusion in recent international auctions. This, in itself, is no mean feat, considering that only a handful of abstract art pieces from the Philippines are chosen for auction. Usually these are works from National Artists and masters such as Arturo Luz, Jose Joya, J. Elizalde Navarro, H.R. Ocampo, Fernando Zobel, Federico Aguilar Alcuaz, Nena Saguil, Pacita Abad and most recently Carlo Magno.
This will be Magno’s 23rd One-Man Exhibit. Magno started painting professionally a little over 29 years ago when he decided to forego a career in architecture and instead enrolled in Fine Arts at the Philippine Women’s University in 1978. This is the same university that has produced many distinguished Filipino artists including Raul Lebajo, Ibarra de La Rosa, Prudencio Lamarozza, Pandy Aviado and Raul Isidro among others.
Galerie Joaquin is located at The Regent Hotel, #1 Cuscaden Road, Ground Floor, Unit 3 Singapore 249715. Tel. No. (65) 6725 3113. Visit www.galeriejoaquin.com.
Magno found himself so engrossed in the world of art that he started organizing several group shows and even headed his own art group called LIKARLA, a group composed of realist painters. Several awards came next including the Grand Prize at the Hispanidad Art Center as well as the First Prize in a YMCA sponsored art competition for his painting titled “Bayanihan”.
Magno recalls being inspired by Vermeer’s art. He found himself painting interiors of old houses and windows. Other influences were Richard Estes and Winslow Homer, who inspired him to do landscapes. From the early eighties Magno’s work never failed to elicit praises for its distinct creative imagery and thoughtful clarity. Through the years his subjects have been diverse including ancestral homes, churchyards, interiors, vistas, and cathedral altars and bell towers. The works were usually highlighted by day to day objects that when transformed by the artist’s highly creative brush became symbols of nostalgia and romanticism such as a batibot chair, a fountain in a churchyard, a cart or even a pail.
The works undeniably left warm emotions to his countless viewers and collectors and looking back, one can only agree with an art critic who in the eighties wrote that this is because Magno’s works successfully capture “a time, a day, a season, an emotion or an era.” They are a “mosaic of recollection and retrospectives.” Other critics and peers acknowledging his technique referred to him as a “master of light”.
His works now adorn many top corporate boardrooms and offices in Makati and the Madrigal and Ortigas Centers as well as in many newly built modern houses at upscale villages like Green Meadows, Corinthian Gardens, Valle Verde as well as leading condominiums among others.
Seven successful and sold-out one-man abstract shows later, Magno is now ready to embark on his twenty-third one-man show. This has even proven to be a greater challenge as it now means he is addressing an international following, Singapore being a major financial and cultural center of Asia and the regional headquarters for many Southeast Asian organizations.
Some works are the 36" x 30" "Blaze of Glory VIII", the 30" x 30" "Harmonics II", the 36" x 30" "Multitude VI", the 30" x 54" "Periphery of Thoughts" and the 36" x 30" "Rising II". |
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Restored IV
Mixed Media 48 x 48 in
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Light of Hope
Mixed Media 30 x 72 in
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Quiet Resonance
Mixed Media 54 x 72 in
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Rhapsody in Gold
Mixed Media 36 x 48 in
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Restored II
Mixed Media 48 x 36 in
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Blaze of Glory VIII
Mixed Media 36 x 30 in
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Rising II
Mixed Media 36 x 30 in
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Ancient Virtue IX
Mixed Media 30 x 30 in
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Shout of Victory I
Mixed Media 30 x 30 in
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Shout of Victory II
Mixed Media 30 x 30 in
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