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ONE New Year’s Eve in the early 1950s, Filipino artist Arturo Luz saw three men on a rickety bicycle maintaining perfect balance as they rode down the street. The lean figures of the men were etched in his mind, and later informing his body of work, as first seen in his 1952 oil painting Bagong Taon (New Year).

Unlike most new year’s resolutions, the approach of using lines to create disciplined designs stuck with Mr. Luz, who was later made a National Artist. Displaying linear and geometric elegance and strength, many of Mr. Luz’s paintings, including works that haven’t been seen for decades, are currently on view until July 13 at SM Megamall in Ortigas, Mandaluyong City.

The artist found that his meticulous nature suited the choice to paint a variety of visual elements mainly with lines, be they cyclists, acrobats, musicians, performers, ancient pottery, and even Asian architecture.

“In my own little world, I know precisely what I want to do. And for me, the greatest satisfaction comes from creating works of art. Nothing can compare to it,” Mr. Luz once said.

Art critic Cid Reyes, who curated the exhibition and previously published a book on the Filipino icon’s life and work, said at the exhibit launch on July 2 that there are many reasons Mr. Luz deserves the mini-retrospective.

“Even among the Thirteen Moderns, his style was a stand-out. It has nothing to do with the subject matter; it has mainly to do with a way of thinking, a way of approach to reality, and also the style and technique of what we call minimalism,” he said in an opening speech.

“The taste for minimalism was introduced by Mr. Luz at a time when the aesthetic taste of the Filipino bordered on the extravagant, the excessive.”

The exhibit, organized by the Renaissance Art Gallery, shows a variety of his works — paintings, collages, sculptures, sketches — from his early days to his death in 2021.

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Among the highlights is a series titled Cities of the Past, which began in the 1990s. The works were born from Mr. Luz’s frequent travels when he was inspired to paint Asian temples, forts, and palaces.

Gracing the launch were National Artists Virgilio Almario (for Literature) and Ramon Santos (for Music), who told BusinessWorld that Mr. Luz was a very quiet man who was full of talent.

“His imagination as an abstractionist is unique, very different from his peers. Even when I wasn’t very conscious about art, I already liked his works,” said Mr. Almario.

Mr. Santos pointed out the beauty in his subtle form of cubism. “It’s fantastic how he drew a musician, a cyclist, and a juggler using the same type of lines. It’s very simple. The word here is subtlety,” he said.

Despite receiving praise and admiration for his contributions to Philippine contemporary art, Mr. Luz was known to maintain a humble demeanor, the two added.

Mr. Reyes, who had interviewed Mr. Luz extensively in the past and had written a book on him, explained that minimalism used to be unfamiliar in the Philippines.

“Most of the paintings of the past were over-decorative, over-indulgent in terms of form and color. It was Mr. Luz who decided to clean all the unnecessary details of a painting. That is the reason this exhibition is called ‘Streamlined’,” he said.

“By taking a dot from here to down there that comprises a line, and with lines alone, creating masterpieces.”

“Streamlined: The National Artist Arturo Luz Exhibition” is on display until July 13 at the Art Center on the 4^th floor of SM Megamall Bldg. A in Mandaluyong. For more information, visit renaissanceartph.com. — Brontë H. Lacsamana

NATURAL aesthetics are celebrated in Japanese culture. In ceramics, high-fire techniques result in unglazed wares that show how the goal of ceramic pieces is not to be as polished as possible, but instead are valued for their functionality in everyday life. Today, it is an art all over the world, encompassing new and unconventional expressions that have made it a contemporary, in addition to a functional, art form.

Scholars estimate that, in Japan, utilitarian earthenware date back to the pre-feudal Heian period, as early as the year 794.

Currently on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila (The M) is the exhibit “Yakishime: Earth Metamorphosis” — an initiative of the Japan Foundation Manila — which tackles the history, evolution, and examples of Japanese ceramic ware known as yakishime.

The exhibition occupies the museum’s North Gallery on the second floor and is ongoing until July 31.

“Yaki or yaku means fire or burn, and shime or shimeru means heightened or combined. I’d like you to recall and imagine the time when the artists of ancient times sat on the soil and stared at the fire that burned their works,” Ben Suzuki, director of the Japan Foundation in Manila, said at the exhibit’s launch on July 3.

On view at the gallery are pots, bowls, and jars from before the 12^th century, and tea ware from the Momoyama period in the 16^th century. Some pieces, however, are only represented by photographs due to the original pieces being too fragile for international transport.

The exhibition also includes new and unconventional expressions of yakishime by noted Japanese ceramicists Takashi Ikura, Kyoko Tokumaru, and Makiko Hattori.

Filipino ceramic artist Jezzel Wee, who studied in Japan for three years and now teaches at the University of the Philippines, told BusinessWorld that yakishime makes use of very painstaking techniques.

“Even the angle by which you place [the clay item] over the fire affects how the texture on its surface will turn out,” she said while leading a tour around the exhibition. “You can control the quality of the piece through the thickness of the clay and the intensity of the fire.”

She pointed out the various textures that contemporary ceramicists can create in their works, highlighting how ceramic ware can range from simple and functional for serving food and making tea, to experimental and creative as objet d’arts.

For National Commission of Culture and the Arts chair Victorino Manalo, yakishime doesn’t just reflect a distinct Japanese sensibility and aesthetic — it is also something Filipinos can learn from.

“It teaches about finding the universal in small, seemingly ordinary things. Perhaps it is time we examine our own unglazed pottery which we dismiss as the humble palayok. If we look through the lens of the Japanese, we may find more beauty in it,” said Mr. Manalo at the launch.

The exhibit has toured the world since 2016, featuring objects that span the chronicles of yakishime. After its run at The M, the exhibit will move to Iloilo in August, where it will be hosted by the Iloilo Museum of Contemporary Art (ILOMOCA).

The Philippine leg of the international tour is supported by the Embassy of Japan in the Philippines and features hands-on workshops and special events to be announced on the Japan Foundation Manila’s social media pages.

“Yakishime: Earth Metamorphosis” runs until July 31 at The M in Bonifacio Global City. Admission is free to the public. — Brontë H. Lacsamana