Part of the first generation of Filipino abstractionists, Lee Aguinaldo blazed new trails during the wave of modernism that swept through Philippine art in the postwar years. His gestural and linear compositions in oil and acrylic made him a towering figure in the local art scene from the 1950s to the 1970s. Though abstract work made him famous, as an artist he refused to be pinned down and he constantly reinvented himself in new genres, mediums and techniques. His work incorporated pop art sensibilities through mixed media, collage, and image transfer, with stylistic references and homages to artists like Rembrandt, Vermeer or Pollock, and collaborations with friends in the Filipino art scene such as Fernando Zobel and Roberto Chabet.
The Life and Art of Lee Aguinaldo brings the full range of Aguinaldo’s work to light. Essays by leading art critics examine his creative vision and the tumultuous personal history that shaped his approach to art. Illustrated with over a thousand artworks and photographs, this is the first full-length biography and tribute to a great modern artist who has been all too little understood.
(Coming in February 2011)
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Vibal Foundation and Ateneo Art Gallery launch “The Life and Art of Lee Aguinaldo” on February 3
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