Creativity in Art
Creativity by an artist, using the same topic in many artworks. Today we have a closer look on the artworks with Carbaos, produced that time by Francisco “Paco” Gorospe Sy (10 July 1939 – 22 September 2002). He was called “A Filipino legend in cubism and modern art from the Mabini School of Art, Paco was an internationally-acclaimed artist.”
He was also referred to as the “Picasso of the Philippines” due to the European and American influences in his work.
Paco Gorospe is feature with many of his works in the book “Revisiting Mabini Art”, published in 2013 and available through our gallery.
The carabao is any Filipino farmer’s strong, reliable and uncomplaining companion. It is not a “beast of burden”, as some foreign interlopers made the Filipinos believe but failed.
A child can gingerly sleep atop a carabao helping itself to green grass, its white horns glistening. Or they may be enjoying a brief respite in a muddy open field, their angular bodies emphasized this time. They may even be in clockwise rotation forming an oval, with a singular bird in contrasting colors. Their eyes are wide open at rest, their horns providing the counterpoint to the diagonal foreheads as they face the viewer. Birds are their playmates that enjoy picking the carabaos’ fleas or simply enjoying the warm burst of breath from the animals’ flared noses.
(Quote of the text from the Book Revisiting ‘Mabini Art’, published in 2013 by Transwing Art Gallery; Prof. Paul Blanco Zafaralla, PH.D.)