The Philippine Online Chronicles

“I have no idea. Who knows? I might even end up doing children’s art. I might even end up in an asylum.”

– Lee Aguinaldo, in an interview with Cid Reyes

For its 50th anniversary, the Ateneo Art Gallery is currently holding a retrospective exhibition of the works of Lee Aguinaldo, pioneer Philippine abstractionist, pop and conceptual artist. The exhibit entitled “Lee Aguinaldo: In Retrospect” was opened to the public last October 26, 2010 and will be on view until February 5, 2011.

On February 3, two days before the end of the retrospective, The Life and Art of Lee Aguinaldo, a long-overdue and much anticipated book, will be launched by Vibal Foundation, in partnership with the Ateneo Art Gallery.

The exhibit and the book are revealing excursions into the man and his art, the literary medium delving intimately into the art inside the man.

The book goes beyond the modernist breakthroughs that Lee bravely ushered into Philippine art even as it sheds light on the quintessential artist who lived and died for his art and personal convictions.

(more after the break)

Book cover: The Life and Art of Lee Aguinaldo

Leopoldo "Lee" Aguinaldo was born in 1933 in New York to a wealthy Filipino father whose family’s dry goods business was among the top fifty corporations in the Philippines, and to a Russian–American mother. He studied high school under the rigid discipline of Culver Military Academy in Indiana. Upon his return to Manila, his father forced him to take up and finish a degree in commerce. This was obviously meant to prepare him for the managerial task he was expected to perform in the family business.

It was the 1950s, and the tall and dashing mestizo, who had been a passionate self–taught artist since he was a young boy, assumed the split roles of a corporate man by day and an artist by night. He gained notoriety for taking patrons of his early paintings for night cruises aboard his yacht, and also for his penchant for parties, expensive cars, and all the decadent pleasures that a young man from Manila’s elite could enjoy.

It was also during this time when he developed close friendships with Fernando Zobel, Roberto Chabet, Arturo Luz, and other prominent personalities in Philippine art.

His hedonist lifestyle ended abruptly when he resigned from the family business to pursue a life solely dedicated to art, much to his father’s chagrin. He moved into a small apartment and continued his solo exhibitions and joined group shows while raising a family.

The renegade’s early works were heavily influenced by the spontaneous action paintings of Jackson Pollock. His style later evolved during his Linear period, when the impulsive renderings of his previous creations gave way to meticulously minimalist and geometric abstractions, without losing his preference for bold colors.

The consummate artist prodigiously painted until he underwent a major heart operation in 1994 which incapacitated him. In spite of Lee Aguinaldo’s long-established name in the art world and the high prices patrons paid for his works, the last four decades of his bohemian life were marked by a series of news-making evictions enforced by landlords — among them his own father — to whom he owed rent.

Lee Aguinaldo died in 2007 at the age of 73 amidst relatively modest circumstances in a small house in Quezon City — far removed from the affluent and reckless youth who was heir apparent to the business empire and properties of one of the country’s wealthiest families.

The indelible legacy of the trailblazing Filipino artist is laid out for future generations in the book The Life and Art of Lee Aguinaldo which will be launched on February 3, 2010, 6:00 PM at the Ricardo and Dr. Rosita Leong Hall, Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City. Viewing of the exhibit and reception will follow at the Ateneo Art Gallery with live performances from jazz group “Majam”.

The book is the fourth in Vibal Foundation’s Arte Filipino series on masters of Philippine art and will be available at the retail price of PhP 2,900 in bookstores. Book launch price is PhP 2,320.

For more information about the event, please call Ian Jaucian/Ateneo Art Gallery at 426.6001 loc. 4160 or Ela De Leon and Dianne Castillo | Vibal Foundation at 416.8460.