by THERIZ LIZEL R. SILVANO
NATURAL colors are exhibited through the rendition of life’s sceneries in Kenneth Montegrande’s 10th solo exhibition, ‘Grandeur Landscapes’. The exhibit displayed a sight of natural realities, incorporating a few colors to interpret the pieces’ sense.
With the minimalistic and spacious exhibition room, what stuns the art enthusiasts is Montegrande’s inexplicable and earthy artistic works. The exhibition is on view at the Galerie Joaquin in U.P. Town Center, Katipunan, Quezon City from Feb. 4 to Feb. 10.
Dispersed with lucent hues, Montegrande’s Life is Beautiful Beyond Measure speaks the value of life in its brightness. As the color red dominates the canvas, it describes how life consists of energy, strength, and power. It may also show a resemblance to fire, war, and danger, which life also delivers sporadically. However, what Montegrande wishes to be seen in his stimulating work is how life is able to recuperate from its troubles.
The clear and subtle bluish-white shade is centered in the work, which interprets hope and harmony amidst the disorderliness of life. Meanwhile, as overlapping as it may seem, the vibrant colors are stained to equal parts of the canvas to show balance. The viewers might not directly interpret the work with its visuals, but what speaks most is its dynamic and mixed colors that make the audience feel that life is beautiful beyond measure.
Journey of faith exhibits a dark and quiet milieu that is set in a river-like spot, where an audience can be viewed to be riding on a boat. This scratched canvas delivers a mellow and tranquil impression among the viewers, for its shadowy corners and dreadful atmosphere. What awes the audience the most is the warm, sun-like glow that centralizes the portrait.
As its title conveys, the journey of faith is a long expedition where one is exposed to trials and gloom. But as one persists to pursue faith, hope and a good omen will constantly appear throughout the journey. Thus, the artwork itself presents optimism towards one’s ambition despite experiencing burdens and distress.
Montegrande’s other masterpiece is Calmness Before the Storm, which offers a three-dimensional feeling created through the circling stokes of a white hue and a dark background. Calmness Before the Storm is a squared canvas with a conjoined setting of land and shallow waters. It gives the viewers a relaxing context, similar to a still, cozy afternoon.
The art piece is a representational painting of a scene with an apparent blue sky, which is dimmed by thick, black clouds. Montegrande has a way of determining how to develop a variety of colors and incorporating them all together to form a certain sensation towards an environment. In this case, he played with dark and light paints to display the beginning of a storm.
In this peculiar illustration of life, Montegrande went a bit perceptive towards his piece Life Goes On. Its composition is layered and fragmented with four dominant colors and shades. On deep analysis of the piece, the portrait is truly considered as life itself and it can be seen through the colors used. The artist painted traces of red hues across the canvas, which is the only color that sparks the painting for its sharp, enthusiastic shade.
It symbolizes the value and beauty of life, whilst the light-blue shade defines faith and trust. The rest of the hues are simply bland, for it depicts the tribulations and conflicts in life. Furthermore, this portrait explains how much life is often formidable, but sparks and glimpses of life’s wonders and motivations also appear to one’s eye and serves as a reminder that the troubles will be through soon.
Montegrande captured the spirit of an environment by playing with colors to display and create natural scenes. The polychromatic illustrations give most of its underlying meaning, which gives value to one’s appreciation of his daily life. His works also cleanse the soul by absorbing light and dark shades and form it into calm, often disturbing scenarios.
As figurative the works may be, the audience will still acclaim each landscape for they present a certain sentiment. Truly, Montegrande’s Grandeur Landscapes renders grand gestures of a natural environment and admiration for the wonders of life. F
