Remembering is never over. Bygones are remnants of retrospection that manifests to the contemporary period. Painter Manuel Sinquenco's transcendental compositions are attestations that the past is present in scenic immemorials. Olden and refreshed, his depictions carry a nostalgic ingredient that can only be sired by the network of geometrical imagery especially carved by his historical strokes.
Bred in Tanay, Rizal — predestined close to Angono, the Philippines's Art Capital — Sinquenco taught himself to paint with extra veracity, pining to overcome exiguous familial situation and to become a distinguished artist which is imminent as among his latest awards is the Natatanging Pintor Na Tagataguyod ng Sining, endued by the BAKUSI foundation in 2016. The artist has painted aged houses on miniature canvas, laces, and collados from 1992-1996, and so has collected an outview of rural happenings and classic scenes that have defined the cultural time-scape of the country plus the nostalgic patina marbling his compositions.
These picturesque frames he painted consists of the calesa, street-smart vendors with fruit-laden woven baskets, and the Bahay Na Bato — a local architecture that initiated during the Spanish colonial era. Being picturesque is not only an aesthetic component, there is an insightful declaration of the Philippines's dynamic history detailed by the painter in the pastoral frames. His works are aesthetically evened with recollected ideas.
An enamoring characteristic of Sinquenco's pictures are the interposing shapes: bars and rectangles as if Tetris blocks interweaving inside the imagery. Explaining his labyrinthian approach, the painter mentions Pipo Alcantara as the person who advised him, unlocking his manner of illustrating and coloring with diverse polygons. The configurations give a segmental viewpoint like his paintings are paintings within itself; a paragon of what has been as it is recalled in mental perspective. This stand-out technique shows the artist's virtual fluency, creating segments of geometrical figures inside the wider image — unbossoming sundry renderings of cubism, abstract, and realism. The shapely obelisks piled unto and side by side dictates a visual language that says the bygone while is unlimitedly building towards today.
Somewhat speaking about the storied Philippine chronicle, the artist uses linguistic presentiment in the paintings's definitions. The fragmented bars emphasize timing being part by part, but historically, it is a singular work. Put together, Sinquenco's shapes, assimilated with the Bahay Na Bato and the still animations of townsfolk, become a mosaic of eras ago and presently as the cubic profiles underscore the contemporary plane. The polygons, whilst distinctly asymmetrical, when viewed wholly with the rustic scenery unfurl a mirage of levelness; noting the steady cruise of emprises.
Among the scenes Sinquenco portrays is a man in front of the Bahay Na Bato, strumming his guitar and singing to a lady vendor carrying her fruit basket — this may be the renowned 'harana' or a jingle to market the produce, should he among the street sellers. There is another gentleman taking the hand of the next milady, probably conversing intently. Such drawings are examples of the painter's pictorial soundscape, allowing an aural perception of the olden goings-on and solidifying the painting's expressive, auditory timelessness.
Colorfully brushed, the visualties by Sinquenco sports bughaw (blue), kunig (auburn), and kahel (citrus) radiance that are modernly ambient. But filming the entire scape is the sepia texture, establishing the nostalgic entity. Particularly assay the Bahay Na Bato's tonality: its luminescent dye reveals postmodern overtones, making the aged house fit in present-day coloration. Sketched on grey-toned cobblestone, Sinquenco dapples this architectural treasure with such glower that in the olden days, the Bahay Na Bato would have been futuristic. By today's sighting, the aged Spanish-Filipino structure is punctual.
Though the drawings are traditional, Sinquenco composes it with a revolutionary brand — his artistry is a pictorial prose with a multitude of levels: classic daily lives of the natives remolded with the geometrical figures to see the past in prismatic timing. So, what has been may be temporal but made permanently tangible through introspect triggered by Sinquenco's magically painted retrospect — a visual essay, virtually emotive.
Dynamic and universal, the scale of the nostalgic paintings have a definite truism: the culture of yesteryear becoming mementos that are very alive due to the images's texture seeping through and to the touch. Experimental at initial gape, there are cosmopolitan virtualities in Sinquenco's depictions that also tell of conventional décor. Because nostalgia invigorates the heartstrings into a standstill, the paintings transport the viewer where yesteryear is petrified while they stay put. And the canvas becomes an immense timeframe containing two phases of time — past and present. They meet between where the geometrical figures are positioned: the contemporary nostalgia of Siquenco's pictures.
His twinklings of senescent towns brim with reminiscences and also with an important query: would it still be nostalgic if what has been still happens? Nostalgia may be illusory, yet the Siquenco pieces realize historic happenings with their timely tonality. But where does the past and present coexist? Simply, both epochs exist in a plane on which the nostalgic entity becomes tangibly omnipresent: in the prismatic sighting, which is utilized through the segments of blocks and rectangles. The shapes heighten the longing, shortening the stretch between then and the time being because of the singular viewing of both epochs. Peer at the past during the present, and there is purely a nostalgic period.
The old world is only one gawk away and it relives presently. Thus, there is but this singular world, independent of timing yet is enamored with remembering. And like the tireless clock, it ticks then recollects.
Images
“Maligayang Araw”
Manuel Sinquenco, 2020, acrylic on canvas
C/O Art Circle Gallery
“Clear Skies and Lovely People”
Manuel Sinquenco, 2020, acrylic on canvas
C/O Art Circle Gallery
“Sunset Town”
Manuel Sinquenco, 2020, acrylic on canvas
C/O Art Circle Gallery
Originally published by Art Circle Gallery.
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