LANDMARKS sculptor Eduardo Castrillo is marking a milestone in his 40 years as the nation’s most renowned and dominant sculptor of national monuments.
Castrillo, who is celebrating his ruby anniversary in the art industry, opened an exhibit of concept drawings and photographs of his sculptures, “Castrillo at 40: Conceptualizing Symbols of Heritage,” last Sep. 22 at the UST Museum of Arts and Sciences. The exhibit will run until Oct. 30.
“UST is a well-known educational institution,” he said. “It is a tribute to my alma mater to start my celebration here.”
Castrillo took up Advertising in the old College of Architecture and Fine Arts in 1963, but did not finish the course. He sculpted the brass “Pieta” of Loyola Memorial Park as a young man in 1966, which immediately won wide acclaim. Among his other works are the towering “People Power” monument along Edsa and “Malakas at Maganda,” an 11-meter high brass sculpture in Pasig City’s University of Life.
“Life is so deep and vast that subject matters are just endless,” Castrillo said about his multifarious works.
Among the works included in the exhibit are concept drawings of Castrillo’s “Sunburst,” intended for the EDSA Shrine tabernacle, the “People Power” monument in Edsa, “The Martyrdom of Dr. Jose P. Rizal” in Rizal Park, and “Amihan at Habagat 1” in Tagaytay City, a figurative personification of the wind’s tenderness (the amihan) and its fierceness (the habagat), made of cut and welded brass on top of sculptured concrete.
Castrillo said that he creates sculptures and monuments with nationalistic themes since he wants to reawaken Filipino’s losing nationalism.
“It is all our duty to promote love for the country,” he said.
The artist also does not seem to follow any visual style because he believes he will be stereotyped if he does so.
“I create my own pattern of expressing myself because I know following a certain style is detrimental to my growth as a sculptor,” Castrillo said.
Castrillo’s copper-hammerout relief of “The Last Supper,” owned by collector Antonio Delgado, deviates from the normal iconography of Jesus Christ and his disciples. The piece shows Jesus in the center without the usual handing out of bread and wine. Instead, Castrillo slightly distorted the bodies of Jesus and the disciples in a seemingly fluid motion, reinventing Leonardo da Vinci’s original version by stressing Jesus’ revelation to his disciples.
A recipient of the Thirteenth Artist Award of the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 1970, Castillo was also awarded the Republic Cultural Heritage Award in 1971, the Ten Outstanding Young Men Award in 1971, and the Green and Gold Artist Award from the Far Eastern University in 1998.
“I will live three times of my lifetime and I will not even scratch 50 per cent of my creativity,” he said. “My artistic activity is my passion, it is a dedication and a vow.”
The artist donated five copies of his book, Breaking Out: an Eduardo Castrillo Sculptural Tour (Inyan Publishers, 1995), a compilation of concept arts and pictures of his works, to the UST Library during the exhibit opening.
The exhibit will also be followed by exhibits at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (Castrillo at 40: From the Drawing Board), the Yuchengco Museum in RCBC Plaza in Ayala in Makati City (Castrillo at 40: Facets of Style Medium and Form) and the Choice Expression Gallery (Catrillo at 40: New Works) in Bel-Air, Makati City.
