Alliance Francaise de Manille’s Total Gallery proudly presents noted printmaker and visual artist Virgillio “Pandy” Aviado’s “Passe Partout”. Described by Gemma Cruz Araneta in her recent column as “Another Filipino Master”, she calls Aviado “a multi-faceted artist who masters a wide range of styles, materials, techniques, moods, themes, and forms.” Indeed, Aviado is a man of many talents: aside from being a multi-awarded printmaker who has represented the Philippines at several biennales and other international exhibitions, he has also been a graphic arts teacher and administrator. He has served as President of the Philippine Association of Printmakers (PAP) and the Art Association of the Philippines (AAP). He was also Director of Visual Arts of the CCP and Chair of the Committee on the Visual Arts of the NCCA.

As a printmaker, Aviado has mastered numerous printmaking techniques, from woodcut to color etching. After training under pioneer printmaker Manuel Rodriguez, he pursued further studies in this medium at the Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes in Madrid, Spain and the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris.

In “Passe Partout”, Aviado seamlessly integrates the printmaking technique of gravure or etching/engraving with painting. In his Exhibition Notes for the show, critic Carlomar Arcangel Daoana writes:

“Perhaps what the master key (passé partout) of this exhibit unlocks is that slit of line and surface of color. In their various intersections breed surreal, hallucinatory images: skulls encircled with flames of petals, interiors of bodies (usually of women), winged eyes flapping across a pink sky, floating bodies dreaming of trees. There are hands, scissors, automobile, pitcher plants, orchids, horse, phoenix, multi-colored hives. They are not involved with any scenery; they are still lifes, art objects, voodoo shrines. They have an opacity that is alarming. They resist to be reconstituted into narrative.”

Virgillio “Pandy” Aviado’s exhibition “Passe Partout” is curated by Albert Avellana of Avellana Art Gallery, and opens on Thursday, May 5, 2011, at the Total Gallery of the Alliance Française de Manille, with cocktails at 6:30-9PM and will run until June 2, 2011. Contact 895-7441 and 895-7585, email [email protected], or visit www.alliance.ph. Alliance Française de Manille is located at 209 Nicanor Garcia St. formerly Reposo St.) Bel-Air 2, Makati City.

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