CESAR LEGASPI

Cesar Legaspi, together with Vicente Manansala, HR Ocampo, Arturo Luz, and Carlos V. Francisco, is acknowledged as a pioneering modernist, best known for his geometric subversions of the human figure. During his early years, Legaspi belonged to the Neo-Realist school, and his themes reflected his personal ideology following the traumatic post-war period. Later on Legaspi moved into cubism and geometrical forms, utilizing emotive colors and a strong sense of energetic tension. Legaspi's mid and late career works are known for their prismatic qualities, as he portrays strikingly cubistic figures, using the intensity of color hue and tone to bring out different planes of pictorial depth. Brainstorm is a particularly spectacular example of Legaspi's iconic style. Rendered in gold, brown, orange and violet hues, with strong black outlines, its displays a bold and bravura execution by Legaspi, with the two male figures suspended within a dynamic frenzy. A gold halo bursts from the cranium of the forefront figure, suggesting intellectual illumination, while the sweeping rays of light extend outwards to envelope the figures, locking them into a dynamic waltz. The entire work suggests the mystical ideal achieved through unifying opposites, and paving the way for humanistic progress.