ART IS a kind of language, used to communicate complex ideas in a visual manner. In this way, abstraction reveals a highly nuanced mind that has moved beyond the mere mimicking of reality. When Plato wrote about form, he used the allegory of the cave to demonstrate his point— that the reality we experience is but shadows of perfect forms that exist beyond our level of comprehension. Abstractionists seek to distill the visual reality into a similarly pure form, condensing and deconstructing figurations until what remains is their essence characterized by lines, shapes and colors.

Perhaps there is no truer proponent of the power of abstraction than Modernist Raul Isidro. Emerging from the formative years of the Late Modernism period in the 1970s, Isidro’s pioneering print and painting practices used abstracted form to express that boisterous period of Philippine art history.

Today, this is reflected in his ability to arrange order from chaos, manifesting works that bridge the discourses of Modernism between the immediate postwar period and the contemporary.

“It is funny because in those days, they said that if you were painting abstract forms it meant you couldn’t draw,” said Isidro of his roots and the nature of abstraction. “But there was something about jumping shapes, from squares, to circles, to rectangles, that is really more honest.”

Isidro renavigates the concept of abstraction in his exhibition at Galleria Nicolas, “Light and Shadows,” which opens March 16.

Raul Isidro (b. 1943) is a native of Calbayog in Samar. He is a product of the Fine Arts program of the University of Santo Tomas, where he finished with a degree in Advertising. At UST during the period was National Artist Victorio Edades, regarded as the leading advocate of Modernism in the country. It is not surprising that with Isidro during his time at UST were other stalwarts of the Late Modernist period, such as sculptors Ramon Orlina and Eduardo Castrillo.

Isidro first exhibited at Solidaridad Bookstore’s gallery in 1969, at the invitation of National Artist for Literature and Solidaridad owner F. Sionil José. Since then, he has had over 50 solo shows. In 1979, he was named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM). He later became fine arts dean of the Philippine Women’s University.

Isidro is known for being dedicated to abstraction as a purist of the aesthetics, which he has always regarded as the highest form of painting.

“I was looking for symbols that I could use as themes,” the artist told art critic Leo Banesa in 1980. And Isidro uses the depth of abstraction to demonstrate these themes.

“Light and Shadows” runs until March 31 at Galleria Nicolas, 3/F Art Space of Glorietta 4, Ayala Center, Makati City; tel. 6250273; e-mail [email protected].