LIKHA

The Art Cube presents the solo exhibition "Likha" by Vincent Eloy Muñoz. Muñoz is a self-taught Pampagueno artist who has been getting the nod for his photo-realist artworks. For the past four years, he has been working professionally, and his meticulously rendered charcoal and graphite paintings have gained him steady attention.

In this solo show, Muñoz uses hands as his main idiom and dominant subject matter to express and ruminate on his ideas about creation. In Filipino, Likha means creation, which emphasizes the idea of handmade work as a means of expressing creativity and ingenuity. Also, this artist believes that hands can express a lot in life. It can suggest a range of associations and meanings such as mastery, choices, certainty, and control more than its functions usual functions of gripping, holding, and catching objects.

Much of his visual style is rooted in the traditions of graphite and charcoal portraiture and his near photo-realistic pieces are his tribute to creative possibilities. His mastery is the result of sheer talent and his abiding respect and commitment to the craft. Much of his skills were developed by watching painting tutorials online and practicing in his home every day.

By succinctly framing his subjects in the play of light and shadows as well as depth, he elevates them to a photographic quality that demonstrates his grit and apparent dexterity with the medium. The palpable visibility of his skills with details is undeniably obvious and we can see in his renderings that can easily animate lifelike effects and magnify dimensionality, exactitude, presence, and expression.

Additionally, his themes are very accessible, and straightforward, and reverberate their distinctive beauty, simplicity, and weight, giving rise to remarkable realism with that grain of authenticity and sincerity. Such straightforwardness and optimistic impulses are perhaps because he comes from a context of organic talent and non-academic traditions in arts. His graphic interpretations do provoke a reconsideration that some artists need no formal training to stand out and still be equally compelling.

According to Muñoz, he likes to be challenged all time as his work demands attention to detail. He said he is also interested to transcend in the possibility of rendering monochromatic landscapes as landscapes are mostly done in colorful and vibrant palettes.

Coming from a tradition of charcoal painting, his interest dates back to when he was seven years old and his recent entry into the gallery scene is the culmination of a life-long dream. He recalls with fondness his early exposure to the arts during his visits to the malls with his mother when he was younger which was the genesis of his dream to become a professional artist. Since then, he has been practicing and learning this
medium which some explain how he deftly executes his artworks with assuredness and technical maturity.

He looks up to artists like Erwin Dayrit and Rafael Mañago, also fellow Pampagueno artists as well as his peers from Guhit Pinas who directly and indirectly influence his artmaking. He also does clay sculptures and designs sneakers on the side.