Moulding life through pure pigment

This exhibition is not intended as a manifestation of skill but rather a presentation of what the pastel is, what it can do and what it can achieve as a medium.

Text and images courtesy of Abe Orobia
T.O.Y.M 2021 Honoree for Education, Arts and Culture
March 15, 2023

‘Intrinsic Brilliance’ is the title chosen by these four pastel artists known in their community namely Iris Babao-Uy, Nell Belgado, Glenn Perez and Tessa Punzalan-Brodeth who have bonded during the long pandemic lockdowns and proceeded to make works that eventually some became part of the show’s collection. Organically they met strictly online harnessing their skills and giving each other inputs and insights leading to the concept of the show.

**Glenn Perez, Nell Belgado, Iris Babao-Uy, Tessa Punzalan-Brodeth**

In this presentation they aim to promote and create awareness and understanding on this mostly complicated and misunderstood medium to which they wanna emphasize that—1. Pastel is painting albeit it's a dry medium; 2. Under microscopic examination pastel crystal-like particles are pure and solid and do not mix; 3. Pastel is durable and is comparable to oils and acrylics; 4. Pastel primarily uses paper but can be used on different grounds as well; 5. Pastel is a versatile and stable medium; 6. Pastel produces deep, vivid and luminous colors and must not be confused with cosmetic tones; 7. Pastels do not change color. The color of the pastel stick will produce the same ones applied on paper; 8. Pastel is worth the investment whether it is a preparatory sketch or full painting.

What separates pastel from other mediums is its unsullied state. It is pure pigment without the addition of a liquid binder. A binder is the vehicle that holds the paints together such as different oils, gum Arabic, polymer and the like. Since pastel is a dry medium, it retains the pureness of its properties while oil and acrylic colorization may reduce brilliance, be made thin or darken.

**Tessa Punzalan-Brodeth, Iris Babao-Uy, Abe Orobia, Glenn Perez, Nell Belgado**

With the correct preparation and use of archival materials pastel works can last for generations. Up to this day we can see well preserved works of the renaissance masters done in chalk such as Leonardo’s drapery studies. The Pre-Raphaelites like Rosetti used pastel for their preparatory sketches to control the tonalities of their compositions before applying oil on top of it. These two prime examples are proof that pastel indeed is both a lasting and versatile medium. Scientifically pastel has grains. These particles do not mix like the traditional wet mediums producing dull and dead palettes. What the eyes can see are plain illusory juxtaposition of pigments on top or in between of each other producing brilliant and vivid colors embedded on the teeth of the artist’s any prepared ground.

Many may conclude that pastel is easy to manipulate and does not require much rendering expertise hence one can easily smudge to blend nor use different tools to achieve certain effects however it takes a trained eye to notice the differences between a meticulously finished work compared to an undisciplined effort. Pastel if handled correctly can achieve much depth, beautiful contrast, body, soft and gradient tonalities and as well transparent and luminous effects. Such attributes are present in the works of Babao-Uy, Belgado, Perez, Punzalan-Brodeth whose pieces ranging from different subjects and genres have given justice to use of the medium.

Iris Babao-Uy specializes in still life painting. Her works most of the time features female figurines as her main subject together with an assortment of elements complimenting her harmonious and delectable compositions. Her wide array of stilled-objects gives her much freedom to showcase her keenness to details. Her compositions to which different varying textures are present encourages the viewer to observe not just the naturalistic depictions but rather the divergent techniques applied to achieve it.

Tessa Punzalan-Brodeth’s works have a calm and reflective energy into it. Prominent to her landscapes is the perceptive synergy of contrast and atmospheric effects making it easy to the eyes. Blues and greys dominate her palette owing much to western sensibilities. As for the other subject matter she neatly understands the magic of complimentary colors. Punzalan-Brodeth's strength lies in her use of colors implying moods of sentimentality and assertiveness.

Nell Belgado puts emphasis on the ever-changing effects of light and its effects whether in a romantic sunset or nostalgic dawn or smooth surface like water reflecting foliages and the sky or the shiny stainless frame of the jeepney and pitcher on a table or the luminous emission of lanterns filling up an entire space and affecting adjacent elements. Her works in effect seem to be moving and vibrating energy. Belgado is concerned with the play's light and its nature rather than the minute details of her subjects. Looking at her pieces is like seeing a dreamscape.

Glenn Perez is proficient in both figurative and non-representational works. His attention to details is matched with the understanding of dissecting elements fluidly into passive and ambiguous gestures. Perez colors are mostly of earth and radiant tones which are given highlight to his preferred selected subjects. His designate themes are in fact efficient to portray natural likeness. Perez technically eliminates backgrounds to give more focus on his subject matter be it still life, human and animal interests.

Hopefully this exhibition as the four artists aspire will spark more interest and understanding on the mostly misconceived medium. Their paintings put together with personal display of pigment collections plus the interactive wall where audiences are encouraged to participate must be remembered as a conversation point veering away from the usual presentations. Intrinsic Brilliance does not mean to diverge or indulge that their works are better than others nonetheless persistently an endeavor to elevate the medium’s status.

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