By Dexter R. Matilla

As if in the middle of a trance, Nestor Vinluan gyrated to the music played by fellow visual artists during the vernissage of his ongoing show at Galleria Duemila. 
 

Gus Albor, like the Pied Paper of Hamelin, filled the space with high-pitched sounds from his flute while Eghai Roxas dictated the pulse on his djembe.
 

At 75, Vinluan was moving gracefully, impressively bending on both his knees while swaying his arms around as if painting on an imaginary canvas on the floor. He then moves to one of his large artworks hanging on the wall as if showing his gestural strokes to everyone present. 

Who’d have thought that the longest-serving dean of the College of Fine Arts at the University of the Philippines Diliman, nine years and counting, is also a performance artist? It’s worth noting that Vinluan plays the flute as well and his interest in the musical instrument started when he was still a student at UP and a friend of his traded a recorder for one of his paintings.

His exhibit “Paintings/Installations/Objects V” is a continuing series, where the abstractionist presents 27 new pieces inspired by nature. Vinluan says that anything can be a source of inspiration, which includes bodies of water, the sky, soil, even found objects. He then interprets these on canvas as with A Pond in Blue and in Tree/Cloud in Pond III. 

Some of the most striking pieces from the exhibit feature bright hues of red—With Cadmium Yellow and From Watching Skies (As I Breathe, I See Circles). Despite the title of the former, the yellow is but a thin vertical brush stroke that hugs one edge of the canvas. Yet, despite the massive circular splatter of rouge at the center over drippings of various shades of blue underneath, the eyes are drawn to the yellow wondering if it’s trying to escape or is on the verge of taking over.
 

From Watching Skies (As I Breathe, I See Circles) is the aforementioned large artwork that Vinluan danced to and it is as impressive from afar and up close. Again, the viewer’s eyes are overwhelmed by the red that occupies a majority of the horizontal space in the middle. It’s akin to staring at an event horizon, where one has to squint to fully visualize what one is seeing. But then you see all the various colors of blue and black and you begin to ask cheekily, “Where are the circles?”

Soft-spoken, at times even seemingly whispering, Vinluan has a sense of mysticism one would expect from monks. Perhaps it’s the years he devoted to the academe that made him such but this Pangasinense from Pozorrubio has a streak of rebelliousness in him, having painted figures with dark themes during the ’70s.
 

Nowadays, despite sometimes speaking at a volume lower than usual, the excitement in Vinluan’s voice as he talks about things he looks forward to doing could not be masked. 

“I’m 75 and I thank God I can still do the things I like,” he says.

As he walks around another area of the room, where sheets of canvas that didn’t make it to the walls, occupy the center, Vinluan talks about his routine. There is gratitude flowing forth from the artist who also shares that before he starts his work daily, he meditates and then he prays. 

Despite what others may think of abstract art, it takes a master to truly create even just one work that is able to both catch a person’s attention and invite them to pause for a moment of reflection.

Another large square piece, Through Gold, does just that. What seems to be a cluster of space dust mindlessly drifting upward from the lower right corner of the canvas suddenly becomes a calming image when framed with a gold outline of a perfect circle drawn inside another gold outline of an equally perfect square, as if framing chaos suddenly gives it order.

It then begins to make sense—the dancing, the longevity, the exuberance—and with a steely focus on what the future still has to offer, there seems to be no signs of slowing down for this visual artist.  

“Everything is intentional,” Vinluan says. “Like spirit flowing... when one really focuses on it, one’s mind begins to open up and explore.” 

“Paintings/Installations/Objects V” is on show until Feb. 8 at Galleria Duemila at 210 Loring Street, Pasay City.