{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":1735,"auction_id":3,"set_id":4,"lot_number":"50","artist":"Romulo Olazo (1934 - 2015)","title":"Diaphanous 253","starting_price":3400000,"signed_dated":"signed and dated 1981 (lower left)","medium":"oil on canvas","size":"60\" x 36\" (152 cm x 91 cm)","property":"PROPERTY FROM THE ARCHITECTS ANTONIO AND CRISTINA TURALBA COLLECTION","coa":null,"provenance":"Acquired directly from the artist","exhibited":null,"literature":null,"write_up":"The dynamic husband-and-wife team, Architects Antonio A. Turalba Sr. and Maria Cristina V. Turalba birthed one of the leading institutions in the real estate industry, Active Group of Companies. What began as an architectural design firm in 1970 prospered into a prolific real estate conglomerate built on its mission of building homes and creating \"better lifestyles and communities for the Filipino.\"
A UP graduate, Active Group's Chairman Antonio A. Turalba Sr. ranked fifth in the 1970 licensure examination for architects. In 1978, he became the first private sector representative to the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council. He was a recipient of the UP Alumni Association Award in Architecture in 1989 and named \"Outstanding Professional in Architecture\" by the Professional Regulatory Commission in 1996. Antonio Sr. is a noted environmental planner, a Fellow of the United Architects of the Philippines, and a former president of the Chamber of Real Estate Brokers Associations (CREBA) and Rotary Makati East.
Pioneering Filipino female architect and Active Group's Vice Chairman Maria Cristina V. Turalba is a retired University of the Philippines associate professor. She holds an MA in Environmental Planning from the same institution and a post-master's degree in Housing from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, and the Parahyangan Catholic University, Indonesia. She is a recipient of the UP Alumni Association Outstanding Professional Award in Architecture. In 2020, she was granted the Gawad CCP Para sa Sining Award for Architecture, the highest award given by the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
Maria Cristina is a heritage advocate who has led several major heritage-related undertakings of the United Architects of the Philippines’ Sentro ng Arkitekturang Pilipino, which she once headed. She has authored the books Philippine Heritage Architecture before 1521 to the 1970s (with Geronimo Manahan and Maria Joycelyn Bolhayon Mananghaya) and Philippine Heritage Homes (with Martin I. Tinio Jr. and Jaime Laya).
Together, they built the august Active Group, which now encompasses a wide range of architectural ventures, including economic, socialized, and middle-income housing, high-rises, and resort and leisure communities, such as Architects Antonio and Cristina Turalba. Image courtesy of www.business.inquirer.net the world-class Mount Malarayat Golf & Country Club and Residential Estates, Porto Laiya, and Mozzafiato.
Just recently, the Active Group lent financial support to 75 underprivileged students from the UP Los Baños - College of Engineering and Agro-industrial Technology through its “Turalba Scholarship Fund.” (A.M.)
Romulo Olazo’s Diaphanous oeuvre is a one-ofa-kind form of abstraction that draws its origins from the Filipino identity: an amalgam of culture, climate, and character combined with local aesthetic concepts formed through history.
The term “diaphanous” has its origins in the Greek words dia and phainein, which translates to “through” and “to show.” Olazo’s approach is reminiscent of the age-old painting technique of glazing wherein translucent layers of oil paint are applied thinly and evenly until the desired tone and texture are achieved. The layered textures acquire qualities often related to sheets of wispy cloth, thus creating what is now Olazo’s notable series.
In the Diaphanous, form and color are fused as one in a subtle but interlocked relationship, and from this union emanates a spectral look. Olazo’s compositions in this series are veritable visions of light. Taken together, we are led to visualize delicate, fragile, and even seemingly ephemeral ensembles. The closer they appear to the naked eye, the more organic they seem to become. The thin films of color further lend to the sacral aspect of the piece, as they interact with each other through overlapping sequences.
As written in the monograph titled Romulo Olazo: “What distinguishes Olazo’s Diaphanous paintings from all other abstract works in the country and even elsewhere is the viewer’s immediate reception which is a mixture of awe verging on a sense of solemnity.” (P.I.R.)","lot_group":"PAINTING","lot_details_html":"
Romulo Olazo (1934 - 2015) Diaphanous 253 signed and dated 1981 (lower left) oil on canvas 60\" x 36\" (152 cm x 91 cm)