It is not easy to be a recognized artist—even more so to be a multi-awarded one—in this day and age. It is even more difficult to be one coming from a heritage of artists. For Nikulas Lebajo to have done so in a career that has been going on for 35 years, is truly a feat worth a feature.
At 50 years old, Nikulas has a lot going for him as far as his career in art is concerned. For one, he is grateful that his art isn’t merely a spin-off of his father Raul Lebajo’s masterpieces. He, instead, sees his work as a continuation of the legacy of the master surrealist. “I will be forever grateful to my father for the creative genes,” he once told Manila Bulletin Lifestyle.
Some might say that this is another challenge, one that could even be more difficult than trying to outdo one’s heritage, so to speak. But with 35 years of practice under his belt, Nikulas has proven his worth.
At the age of 17, Nikulas won his first prestigious recognition in the world of art with the 1989 Shell National Students Art Competition. This was his stepping stone in becoming a staple in the local art scene. His works have been featured in galleries big and small, known and obscure, all over the country—The Luz Gallery, Nunu Fine Art, Richard Koh Fine Art, The Drawing Room Contemporary Art, Gallery Big, Gallery Nine, West Gallery, Gallery 139, Crucible Gallery, Nuzen Art Gallery, Artes Orientes Gallery, Galerie Stephanie, Imahica Art Gallery, Museo Orlina, Fifty One Collective, just to name a few.
In terms of style, Nikulas has evolved from his father’s surrealism to less impressionistic genres of painting, from portraiture to other representational genres. It is a style that he has developed over the years, while also being recognized in various competitions such as the 1990 Metrobank Art Competition and Philippine Art Awards in 1994, 1996, and 2001.
Outside the country, Nikulas has been seen exhibiting at the China World Trade Center Exhibition Hall in Beijing, the Hong Kong International Art Fair, the Young Contemporary South East Asian Richard Ko Fine Art in Malaysia, Art Singapore, The Contemporary ASEAN Art Fair also in Singapore, the 17th ASEAN International Art Exhibition at the Daejeon Municipal Museum of Art in Korea, the Shanghai International Art Exhibition in China, and the Nunu Fine Art in Taipei.
This year, to celebrate his 35th anniversary as an artist, Nikulas has an exhibit currently ongoing at Rustan’s Galerie Bleue, at the 5th level of Rustan’s Makati. For this particular collection, he drew inspiration from ordinary, everyday objects found in a Moroccan home—earthenware and home goods such as plates, bowls, and cups.
“I always scrutinize the finer details of what catches my interest,” Nikulas explains, adding that spontaneous visits to stores and antique shops piqued his interest in the “bright colors, intricate shapes, and geometric patterns of Moroccan design.”
As an artist, Nikulas is not new to finding inspiration even in the most mundane or trivial of objects. He once did a piece featuring bottles lined in a repeating manner. Of that, he commented, “I’m more fascinated with repetition, composition, and perspective. How far can I take this bottle or jar—modify it, diversify it, change it, without disguising its identity?”
It is this fascination that Nikulas brings to his current works on display at Galerie Bleue. And it is also this that has kept him going as an artist. After all, as far as noticing repeating patterns is concerned, he says that it reveals the “Zen-like power of the mind.”
As if echoing the years still to come, Nikulas had an exhibit together with his daughter earlier this year. It was, some might observe, a different kind of take on repetition. Certainly, the father-daughter pair was something challenging to both artists. But Nikulas is yet to shy away from a challenge.
“Challenges will always come, whether you’re [in] your fifth or 50th year painting, what matters is to have a steady mind,” Nikulas says, with the air of confidence and the tinge of wisdom that comes from a man who has proven his worth and the value of his craft. “More challenges will arrive, but it’s from the mind that one can draw strength. The rest will follow.”
At 50 years old and with 35 years of practice as an artist, Nikulas hopes that more young artists will continue to pursue their art and find their voice in what has undoubtedly become a noisy world.
Photos courtesy of Ruby Lebajo