Feb 24 2009
Portraits by Renato Ong
Artinformal
In his recent body of works entitled “Portraits” opening on February 26th at Art Informal, sculptor and mixed media artist Renato Ong offers a compilation of portraits of urban sensibilities. Intended as a parody of virtues and vices, the narrative is integrated in the play of elements evoking eastern Christian icons wherein the sacred merges with the mundane. Virtues co-exist with vices, a yin and yang, with no clear-cut delineation between good and evil. In the same vein, institutionalized concepts are fused with the fold indigenous.
Surface encrustation typical of ‘Illuminations’, is recreated using fiberglass along with commonplace materials such as nuts and bolts, cables and metal castings.
In direct contrast with a simultaneous exhibition featured at Avellana Gallery entitled “Basilica” wherein relatively plain anthropomorphic posts are assembled to evoke a serene and meditative space, “Portraits” deal with folk urban realities. Heavily textured, fragmented, and vibrant!
Incorporating a lusty mix of traditional and fold indigenous imagery, Renato Ong creates tension both complex and contradictory, stretching the boundaries of conventional art.
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