Raymond Legaspi Does the Tango is a visual arts exhibition of twenty works that romanticize the Filipino lifestyle of a happy existence, all within the milieu of the dance of free love. Coming from the Daster series with its siesta mood, Raymond Legaspi now elevates his work to another level of movement as his canvas comes alive with the ebullience and passionate intimacy of the tango, a number of frames providing classic instrumentation with the Argentinean bandoneon. The garments of the characters still carries the images that provide a richer insight into the personalities depicted in the space, a distinctive execution technique that the artist favors.

The characters in a Raymond Legaspi canvas tend to be healthy of body yet proportionally smaller of head, a marked influence coming from the Chinese way of equating heaviness with prosperity and the size of the head with contentment. The interesting part is that though they come from all walks of life, they all celebrate their own versions of happiness, an emotion Legaspi singularly pursues. He is not afraid to experiment with his colors and gravitates towards the hues that other artists tend to avoid. His fluid brush stroke is intentionally bared using a wet on wet technique that provides a freshness that is very much painting-like as opposed to being realistic. He has tasked himself to document the images of life that tell of stories that pass all too quickly.

Raymond Legaspi Does the Tango is a one-man-show slated for the Ayala Museum from March 25 to April 7 of 2008, his third one-man show and the second in Ayala Museum. This is very fast progress for one who had dedicated 20 years of his professional life as a multi-awarded advertising creative director and has just very recently returned to his hometown and to his art.

For a sneak preview click here.