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Lot Essay
The apparent architectonic characteristic of the glass sculpture often reminds one of Ramon Orlina's early training as an architect. The lucent quality of glass fascinates the sculptor and in his creation of a reductive look for the present work that is with a clean and cool geometric precision, Orlina manages to unleash the transient and effervescent source of light within the glass with a tangible elegance.
The present work is a reprise of an earlier Emerald Series which Ramon did for his exhibition in United states, Seattle in 1996 at the Bryan Ohno Gallery. The title of the work refers to the name of Seattle who is otherwise known as the Emerald city. This other name of the city is a result of a contest organised in the 1980s in search of an official nickname for the city. The name 'Emerald city' is selected for its apparent allusion to the lush surrounding of Seattle that is the result of the city's frequent rain. Eva Laird Smith who wrote on Orlina's Seattle exhibition observed the work in 1996 and commented "Emerald city is a fine example, a megalithic aggregate of rectilinear shapes melded into semblance of skylines and abstracted cityscapes." Indeed, these words could be aptly applied for the present work as Ramon Orlina succinctly presents the luminosity of the glass and creates a harmonious balance of shapes and forms but not without an edge, as he also incorporated the angular and pointed shapes within the form, just as one would expect to see that with a cityscape.
Dr. Rod Paras-Perez in an article entitled "Heart of glass" which was published in Asia Times has explained the virtuosity of the sculptor's technicality. "Glass is traditionally blown into shape while hot and malleable. This is the method used by American master Chihuly who has given glass a most contemporary feel. But Orlina does not follow the usual way of handling glass. He neither blows nor casts his works. Instead, he molds the glass as a sculptor would a piece of marble or any stone. Often by painstakingly grinding each work into shape or form he wants. His mode is the oldest way of making sculpture although not necessarily that of working glass." It is precisely with the sensibility of a sculptor that allows Orlina to endow the glass work with a dynamic of a 3 dimensional work that, in spite of its innate hard and cold characteristics is never deprived of a softer variegation in sheen that heightens its dynamism both as an object with multiple forms and a subject with an emotion.
The present work is a reprise of an earlier Emerald Series which Ramon did for his exhibition in United states, Seattle in 1996 at the Bryan Ohno Gallery. The title of the work refers to the name of Seattle who is otherwise known as the Emerald city. This other name of the city is a result of a contest organised in the 1980s in search of an official nickname for the city. The name 'Emerald city' is selected for its apparent allusion to the lush surrounding of Seattle that is the result of the city's frequent rain. Eva Laird Smith who wrote on Orlina's Seattle exhibition observed the work in 1996 and commented "Emerald city is a fine example, a megalithic aggregate of rectilinear shapes melded into semblance of skylines and abstracted cityscapes." Indeed, these words could be aptly applied for the present work as Ramon Orlina succinctly presents the luminosity of the glass and creates a harmonious balance of shapes and forms but not without an edge, as he also incorporated the angular and pointed shapes within the form, just as one would expect to see that with a cityscape.
Dr. Rod Paras-Perez in an article entitled "Heart of glass" which was published in Asia Times has explained the virtuosity of the sculptor's technicality. "Glass is traditionally blown into shape while hot and malleable. This is the method used by American master Chihuly who has given glass a most contemporary feel. But Orlina does not follow the usual way of handling glass. He neither blows nor casts his works. Instead, he molds the glass as a sculptor would a piece of marble or any stone. Often by painstakingly grinding each work into shape or form he wants. His mode is the oldest way of making sculpture although not necessarily that of working glass." It is precisely with the sensibility of a sculptor that allows Orlina to endow the glass work with a dynamic of a 3 dimensional work that, in spite of its innate hard and cold characteristics is never deprived of a softer variegation in sheen that heightens its dynamism both as an object with multiple forms and a subject with an emotion.