The art of Carlo Magno and the invisible thread that weaves them

Carlo Magno, in both his recent and upcoming exhibitions, explores his artistic journey, process, and percipience

When snippets of memories and poignant moments meet, it is as if Time bends, circles back, loops into, and continues to trace paths that tie everything together. Woven into our reality, thoughts, and emotions, this non-linear timelapse shows us points in our lives where there have been transformations made and wisdom gained.

Inside seasoned artist Carlo Magno’s studio, meeting points of Time and Memory energise the room. When we began our interview, Magno remembered his late framer Mang Johnny. Magno worked closely with his old friend, who during his years as a budding artist in college was able to keep copies of some of his works dating back to 1976.

“Mang Johnny was a kind, earnest man,” he recalled.

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Magno, with four decades of artistic career behind him, is best known for his mixed media abstracts, figurative paintings, and quirky metal sculptures. It was in 1981 when he had his first solo exhibition at the Greenhills Art Center, showcasing hyperrealist paintings of heritage churches, houses, and many others. But something stirred in his heart and soul 20 years later that urged him to break away from this genre and delve into realism and abstraction. In 2002, he mounted an exhibition aptly titled “Transformation” at Galerie Joaquin. Since then, he kept on exploring the many possibilities of his artistry.

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“I didn’t initially go into the journey of becoming an artist because I thought, I’ve been doing it all my life already,” says Magno. “I felt something was missing in my passion for it so I decided to pursue a different path at the beginning.”

Magno has been drawing as early as five years old. At a young age, he began showing determination to master proportions and anatomy in his realistic figurative sketches. When he reached his teenage years, he joined art competitions, but what enriched his appreciation for the arts was not winning the favour of the judges, nor his father’s penchant for drawing with his foot, but the thrill sought in understanding the works of art masters and honing one’s craft.

From degree programmes in architecture to music, Magno searched for what would truly satisfy him until he landed on the fine arts programme of Philippine Women’s University. Gallerist, author and publisher Manny Duldulao discovered him and put him under his tutelage. Then Magno spent his Tuesdays for several months reading books about Old World art masters.

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“What I admire about the Old Masters is that their ideas and intentions are clearly evident in their works. What I like to do is something cerebral that triggers the imagination and consciousness of viewers, expressing common themes—sometimes out of the ordinary manner of expressing—in ingenious perspectives,” he says.

Magno adores the luminous works of Johannes Vermeer that depict ordinary people and everyday life. The loose painterly brushstrokes of Frans Hals and the gestural abstracts of Antoni Tàpies have also greatly inspired Magno.

Despite shifting from realism to abstract, Magno shares that one would still be able to see the cohesion of his works. And that is texture.

“When you look at my abstracts now, then see my past works, you will find similarities in the texture. This predominantly red painting would remind you of a detail of a worn-out colonial-period structure, which I have painted before,” explains the artist.

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In the texture’s roughness of heritage buildings and churches, Magno finds sublimity. When he rendered them into his art, he knew they held deeper meanings, but Magno admits that he is sometimes oblivious to them or defers theorising. Instead, he wants viewers to appreciate them as they are.

Some of Magno’s works use subdued colours, such as shades of blue, grey, and yellow, aside from red. “I value the simplicity of colours. My gestures vary, but one can see their architectural inspirations. For the blacks, I use charcoal,” he describes. The artist explains further that he always intends for his works to be interpreted by the viewers subjectively, using their memories and experiences rather than imposing meaning on them.

Magno debuted his sculptures at the Art Fair Philippines; one of the more popular series was his obese vitruvian man inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci’s iconic masterpiece. But painting still holds a special place in his heart because of colour and texture’s limitless possibilities.

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Magno reveals that the popularity of his sculptures was incidental as he originally intended to make their bases made of glass as focal subjects. Made of numerous resin layers and from tedious processes like manipulating the temperature, the tower-like bases challenged and satisfied the artist in his artmaking journey. The miniature humans—some of them 3-D printed—that he made to stand or sit on these glass sculptures were made out of whim and the artist’s natural wit. “I actually call them mokong (moronic bystanders),” he quips. Little did he know that there would be demand for them.

Enjoying the process, discovering new ways every time, and expressing his eye for beauty in the ordinary keep Magno’s feet on the ground and carry an ever-changing artistic philosophy. He braves to stretch out the possibilities of his artistry and remains unfazed by the challenges of art’s dynamism.

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During the photoshoot, a centrepiece in his studio was a then-work-in-progress unveiled at his “Percipience” exhibition at Galerie Joaquin. It is a mixed-media work with car paint as its base, acrylic paint for its accents and details, and covered by a custom-made acrylic glass that gives a rainshower effect to the painting.

Growing up in a middle-class community in Leveriza, Malate, Magno’s eyes were introduced to the opulent lifestyle of Manila’s high society. Magno’s penchant for colonial-styled structures and intricate architectural details exuding Hispanic Filipino artistry may have started from that. “Emotions resonate from the texture of the walls,” he says. Magno’s attempt to conjure these emotions out of texture is an invisible thread that binds his oeuvre for four decades.

“But for my viewers and collectors, I don’t want them to just connect to these technicalities (colours, textures, process, et cetera) but rather relate to the soul that I impart with my works,” Magno says.

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Having reached forty years in his career, from hyperrealism to abstraction, from painting and sculpture to mixed media, Magno shares humility as the secret to surviving a crowded art scene. “I keep experimenting with my art because an artist needs to always go beyond what he is doing and resist being boxed,” he says.

He remembers how critics bashed him when he suddenly shifted to abstractionism about 20 years ago. “I didn’t know that there was such a rule that limits an artist to explore. Where is freedom when one is stuck to an artistic identity?” Magno says. With this, he encourages emerging and established artists to continue exploring their craft. This would result in the vibrancy of our art scene, Magno says.

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“Art is a mirror that reflects the soul of a person. It can be unfathomable how, but it is where an artist and a viewer express themselves. And that is a thrilling, gratifying experience to have,” Magno concludes.

After his limited-run exhibition at the Samsung Performing Arts Theatre in Circuit Makati and Galerie Joaquin earlier this year, Magno will be mounting another exhibition at Art Lounge Manila in Molito, Alabang from September 16 to 30.

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Credits

Photography: Jon Nouel Hipe

Location: Carlo Magno’s studio

Franz Sorilla IV

Art and Culture Editor, Tatler Philippines

About

Before assuming the Art and Culture Editor position, Franz has always had a penchant for visual and performing arts. He is passionate about exploring and writing about the local cultural scene and rediscovering the country’s storied past and rich heritage. Besides working on this luxury lifestyle magazine, Franz is an avid book reader, local traveller, museum-goer, chorister, and community theatre playwright.

Work

Franz earned a degree in Journalism from the University of Santo Tomas. He writes about local visual and performing artists and their craft; drinks wines, liquors, and spirits and talks about the creativity of their respective winemakers and master blenders; tries to learn more about business and investments; respects the tradition and artistry that go behind the making of watches and jewellery; and appreciates the genius of architecture and creative design.

As head of Tatler Philippines’ pool of writers, he helps them bring impactful and socially relevant stories to light.

For any leads, you may reach him through @franzsorillaiv on Instagram or franz@tatlerphilippines.com via email.