You can regularly view the works of notable and well-recognized Ilonggo artist PG Zoluaga at the Arte Tierra Art Space, located at the Ground Floor of the still under-populated Festive Walk Mall at the Megaworld Business Park. Yet he released an intimate collection of work for the Heart’s Month which he entitled: Black Valentine.
The collection is composed of eight new acrylic on canvas masterpieces which were carefully prepared to commemorate a second edition of Black Valentine, this time at Book Latte Alternative Art Space – a quaint resto and gallery which usually hosts small exhibits in support of emerging artists.
Zoluaga is known to offer something new at every show. “These are new pieces, he shared with a soft voice, “for I make it a point to bring fresh and timely artworks for the public to see, learn, and appreciate.”
This is perhaps the reason why a Zoluaga artwork is something to look forward whether it is joined in a group or collaborative show. His canvasses are usually engaging because of the relevant themes and subjects that it deliberates in his attempt to raise public consciousness about various issues through art.
While the color black is associated with elegance and formality, Zoluaga shared that it is not a color associated with love. Therefore, the show is an attempt to actually exist out of bounds of the traditional way that a Heart’s Month is commemorated.
Through the collection, Zoluaga strives to convey a message on how love can be celebrated even in an unconventional way. “We must celebrate love, whether unrequited or reciprocated just like how we celebrate life and death. The birth of a new-found love and its death when an affair ends are worth reminiscing during the season,” intoned Zoluaga.
Zoluaga used black as a dominant color to symbolize silence for he believes that it is only in darkness that one can hear the loudest longing of the heart.
These feelings are evident across the pieces in the show, especially in the series Living Separate Lives 1 and 2 and Out of the Blue and into the Black 1 and 2. A viewer can emotionally relate on the message of the piece Battle Scarred Heart, which is a recurring reminder of a heart that is longing for peace and contentment.
The artworks mounted in an 18 x 24 inches frame uncovers the burning desire of the heart to be heard as they portray feelings of bitterness, pain, angst and sufferings – thoughts and emotions that may well have been described as “the heaviest of burdens” by author Milan Kundera and German thinker Friedrich Nietzsche in books that they have written.
Zoluaga’s pieces Tangled up in Black, Life in Solo, and Trilogy may well have captured viewer emotions from their experiences of sharing intimacy and love with someone along the course of their lives.
For the artist, suppressing these emotions can be the greatest punishment we can bring to ourselves; thus, the need to be expressed through art.
Black likewise impart the idea of the temporariness of things for everything that is beautiful carry a certain sadness. “Our experiences of love, whether good or bad, will always remind us about something that is beautiful for at a certain point in our lives we have also learned not to love,” he underscored.
Yet love needs to be celebrated in spite of its impermanence said the artist and he encourages everyone to engage in a contemplative moment and savor the quintessence of Black Valentine. “While black may bring a negative feel or aura, it is inseparable from all the beautiful facets of life,” said Zoluaga.