Not by numbers, but by the guts—a process of creation and judgment ruled by a multitude of senses: retinal and psychic, a confluence of elements affected by the artist’s entire armory of faculties shaped by his education and exposure to various art styles.that, in essence, is the way

The artist Joseph Lofranco responds to the process of artmaking. He is a bachelor fine arts graduate from the Philippine Women’s University (PWU),

Equipped with all the skills that can be honed by any art school steeped in traditional conservative painting, but another just inside the door of modernist painting. Lofranco’s ascent to student to practicing artist, surviving against the vicissitudes of the art market and system, is indicative of the general situation that confronts the young Filipino artist.

   This writer’s introduction to the works of Lofranco came last year by the way of a solo exhibition at the Drawing Room in Makati, which specializes in works on paper. as a collection of Untitled works, the works seduced not by any suggestion related to nature or emotion, which imposed titles necessarily would. The viewer is then free and liberated to respond likewise to the painting at any level he wishes to. (True, the experience can also confound other viewers.) At any rate, one is pulled into the works both

By the relaxed elegance of the colors and the controlled subtlety of the forms, which, as vessels of colors, shape the entire structure of the paintings. One is hard put to ascribe a specific hue of colors –the reds are delicately toned down by colors in the cooler range of the spectrum. The cool vividness of blues and greens, on the other hand, forces the abstract landscape to clarify the amorphous and diaphanous veils of color. The paintings, even when rendered in warm colors, look cool.

   That may sound either like a paradox or outright disharmony. But there is in fact a reason for it. Lofranco’s brush grazes the shapes with mist of white, a functional yet contrapuntal accent, illuminating and bathing areas of intense colors. In effect, the white pigment serves as a neutralizer or modulator, rendering certain passages with a pastel – like delicacy.

     When asked who among the American Abstract Expressionists he most appreciates, Lofranco’s answer surprises but pleases: Esteban Vicente. (While to most other Pinoy abstractionists the Ab – Ex idiom starts Jackson Pollock and ends with Willem de Kooning.) Possibly the least known among the first generation Ab – Ex painters –lesser known, eve, than Jack Tworkov or Richard Pousette-Dart---Vicente’s abstractions are characterized by softly glowing areas (darkly glowing actually) of colors, applied with a feather like brush application, along the edges that demarcate the zones of colors. The canvas seems “drenched “ with a quietly moving emotion. Lofranco has learned his lessons well.

       Recently – as in last month of this year –Lofranco held another solo exhibition at the same venue. The works now carry the thematic title Thoughts from the Gutter – a reference, according to the artist, to the rainwater that has collected in the gutter of the house roofs. Departing from the year 2000 works, these new paintings are contrasted boldly from their predecessors in terms of color and structures. Against the dazzling whiteness of the paper, Lofranco positions in the central portion of space a mass convergence of loosely brushed forms, an encrustation of pale and subtle colors – indeed, hues “ drained “ of by the admixture of grays. The works comes as a series, and titled or labeled simply as L401, L402, L403 – a code number meaning the first work in the fourth show of Lofranco. The titles struck me at first as abstractions by themselves.

        The most surprising information about Lofranco is that, now making a name for himself as an abstractionist; he has “ a past “ as a figurative painter. Not just your usual dime – a – dozen figurative painter, but a photo a photo-realist whose seemingly easy mastery of ascribing the look of a photograph to a painting belies the masochistic process of this particular art idiom. Lofranco concentrated on the images of the leaves, in particular the San Francisco, whose broad, speckled leaves move themselves between shafts of sunlight and intricate shadows. When cropped in detail as a fragment of a leaf, the impassive image transformed itself into some mysterious and crystallizing abstract form. These San Francisco works bloomed on the walls of a popular native restaurant. (While this writer has nothing against artworks displayed in crowded restaurants, my spirits wilts at the sight of them, struggling for some decent attention, amid the din of luncheon gossip and the clatter of cutlery. Terrible. The artworks end up like visual Muzak.)

        Another subjects on which Lofranco Lavished his skills, as a photo-realist is the arcade scene. Emulating the punctilious photographic exactness of the works of American photo-realists like Chuck Close, Charles Bell and Richard Estes, Lofranco delineated such pop-fantasy images as planes, elephants and stuff toys. But, indeed, even gifted with an enviable pictorial skill, Lofranco’s artistic spirit languished, parched for some aesthetic wellspring. Lofranco found a refreshing oasis in abstraction.

        And where Lofranco hails from, which is Cavite, he has found an energizing boost in the camaraderie of fellow artists Manny Garibay, Alfredo Esquillo, Willy Alicdan and Dei Jardiniano. This barkadahan of Cavite artist—perhaps afire with Aguinaldo’s revolutionary zeal, albeit of the aesthetic variety—calls itself Anting-Anting, meaning amulet. While on the domestic front, Lofranco keeps cozy company with another artist, his wife ClaireLynn Uy, also a graduate of PWU, who paints along a surrealistic vein.

         As an abstractionist, Lofranco has indeed an instinctive grasp of what makes a painting work, though one dares say that his vocabulary of forms seems to still be evolving. To my mind, this artist—so far—has been hitting all the right chords. To collectors looking for the next bright thing: After Bernie Paquing and Marcel Antonio, my own instinct tells me it’s Joseph Lofranco—to whom we shall now give the last words: “In my work, the process always stimulate me, for I can communicate with the materials right away. Intuition beyond the obvious, absolute freedom, fascination with accidents and control. It is a way of expressing everything inside me, and leaving the interpretation to the viewer.”