Sawilik: A Flick of Colors

CEBU, Philippines — There’s an old joke about what the true flavors of water are, that its real flavors is tied with temperature – cold, hot, chilled or lukewarm.

For watercolor artists, the joke’s implied truth holds some verity, albeit with a difference on the type of temperature it tackles on. To watercolor artists, it’s the relative warmth or coolness of a color that yields a certain flavor.

This take on “water’s flavors” suffuses the exhibit “Sawilik: A Flick of Colors,” a watercolor art exhibit which runs at the third level of the Ayala Center Cebu throughout the month of May.

Presented by the Cebu Artists Collective in partnership with Cebu Artists Inc. and Ayala Center Cebu, the show presents a series of watercolor pieces that exemplify how Cebuano talents have been honing and fine-tuning their mastery of the medium.

Composed of still lifes, landscapes, portraits, life-in-Cebu montages and abstract compositions that punctuate the narrative painting form, the a kind of archivist to how ambivalent the traditional and out-of-the-box Cebuano watercolor artists are with the medium – highlighting the Cebuano artist/designer’s dexterity in incorporating classic design styles with streaks of contemporary flair.

Mainlined by pieces by some of the metro’s celebrated watercolor artists (the internationally famed Fred Galan and multi-awarded Darby Alcoseba and Jose “Kimsoy” Yap are part of the show’s roster of exhibiting talents), the show disbands watercolor’s reputation as an “unserious art” – exposing the medium as one that requires an understanding on water’s reactions on linen paper and how this reaction cascades tints into tones, hues into shades.

In more ways than one, the show plays up how intricate the fine art in watercoloring really is – edifying that each brush flick with the medium comes with an understanding of what it blends; what “water flavors” it portends.