Art Is All in the Family at This Exhibit at the Orlina Museum in Tagaytay
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Museo Orlina in Tagaytay City recently staged its first major group show since the pandemic, taking an intimate look into the art of families of artists and their artistic journeys. The show “Artistic Legacies” will run until end of March at the museum’s Reflections and Basement Galleries. On display are curated art pieces that served as catalysts to the continuing legacies of the works of the Castrillo, Delacruz, Garibay, Lebajo, and Orlina families.
View this post on Instagram>pThe Orlina famiy is led by its patriarch Ramon, who is considered the father of Philippine glass sculpture. Born in 1944, he celebrated his birthday with friends and family last January 27th. >pThe artist also put on display several of his art cars, mostly composed of air-cooled classic Porsches and VW Beetles, some even with hand-painted murals including one personally rendered by artist Bencab inspired from his famous Sabel painting.>pALSO READ>p'Dati Sumasabit Pa Ko sa Jeep': A Candid Q&A with Ronald Ventura>pThe Story of Claude Tayag's Wall of Filipino Art Masters' Autographs >pAnother very interesting art car was the Beetle Sphere sculpture by Indonesian artist Inchawn Noor, which Orlina recently acquired. After his birthday bash, Orlina had the sculpture crated and will have it showcased in his museum very soon. Noor made a series of these sculptures that resemble a classic VW Beetle all crumpled up into a life-sized ball of glass, metal and plastic. Only a handful of these sculptures were made and one of these recently exchanged hands at a value of about P6 million.>p
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Photo by Alvin Uy.>p>pCoincidentally, Museo Orlina itself is also celebrating an anniversary as it officially opened on January 26, 2014. The place overlooks picturesque Taal Lake and the multi-storey building features a roof deck that has been the site of music festivals and events, as well as a sculpture garden overlooking the lake. >pAn architect by education, Orlina practiced for almost a decade before shifting to art. The self-taught glass artist chose to specialize in glass as a medium and in 1975, he launched his first one-man show entitled Reflections at The Gallery of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Manila. He was the first Filipino artist to create glass sculptures out of blocks of glass material that he would extract from the factory of Republic Glass. These are waste glass materials called glass cullets that mostly come as rejects from glass manufacturing and he would work on these by cutting, grinding and polishing them into beautiful works of art. >pAnna Orlina, National Artist for Music Fides Cuyugan-Asensio, Ramon Orlina, and Michael Orlina>p>p
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Photo by Alvin Uy.
>p>pHe has passed on his artistic legacy to his youngest daughter, Anna, and only son Michael. Anna was exposed to the art world way back when she was young; she graduated from the De La Salle College of Saint Benilde with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Multimedia Arts and briefly worked as Gallery Manager in Big Boy Cheng’s Secret Fresh Gallery in 2015 and eventually pursued her passion in art and also works as Museo Orlina’s Art Director and Curator. She elevated her craft and took up intensive glassmaking courses overseas including Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Washington State in 2016, Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York in 2017. In 2018 she enrolled in the Glass School in Nový Bor, Czech Republic. >p>p.jpg)
>p>pAnna’s latest work is called the “Sanctum,” which looks like a pagoda tower made from laminated coldworked glass that stands as high as 46 centimeters and is a crowd favorite at the show. Valued at P2.9million, her work is beginning to gain collector interest and is a testament to her father’s legacy of glass art. >p.jpg)
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