APEX

Galerie Raphael is proud to present renowned Glass Sculptor, Ramon Orlina, as he expresses his visual imagery through glass culets and crystal blocks in “Apex”, showcasing at ManilArt 2018. A multi-awarded glass sculptor, Orlina’s reputation extends to art circles and patrons in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Japan, U.S.A. and the Czech Republic. 

Glassmaster Ramon Orlina has had important major exhibits including “Quintessence,” but the artist keeps on getting better and better at his craft. Seventeen (17) significant masterpieces, considerably among the major works of his outstanding career will be shown at ManilArt 2018, befitting of Galerie Raphael’s chosen title for the exhibit “Apex”, solidifying Orlina’s position at his chosen career. 

Orlina has always been drawn to sculpture as a form of fine art: as a young man, he would accompany his mother to Quiapo and other churches where he would admire statues and sculptures, including some made by the late National Artist Napoleon Abueva. This early influence gave the young architect the resolve to carve out his own path, turning down a scholarship abroad, in favor of teaching himself how to birth sculptures from discarded glass cullets.

After completing an architectural degree at the University of Santo Tomas (UST), Ramon Orlina secured his professional license in 1965 and went on to practice at a top firm. Although he was more interested in Fine Arts, he thought back then that Architecture was a more practical choice of profession. Changes in the Philippines’ political landscape in the 1970s, however, fatefully forced him to take on a different career path. With clients leaving the country, he looked for another artistic venue and stumbled upon glass sculpting.

A lot can be discovered from Orlina who revolutionized the elements of his chosen art form—pushing the limits of glass without compromising his own freedom to experiment and create his visions into existence. Simple yet elegant; pure and modern; refined and ever changing, these and more describe the glass genius and his masterpieces.

The ingenuity and innovation of Orlina’s technique is considered a feat ahead of its time, which the CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Art says is unreplicated even in highly industrialized countries—amazing even the masters of glass art in Czech Republic. 

Prolific even at the onset, Orlina’s pieces play on the interaction of geometric volumes in varying relationships to each other, with each work to be viewed from all angles and with generally no fixed base. Whereas before the artist worked chiefly in green and blue glass, now he has added the jewel tones of amber, pink, and unique shades of Mediterranean and Cobalt Blue. 

Taking inspiration from simple things in his surroundings such as a scenic view, cloud formation, the break of dawn, and nature, Orlina imagines visual representations of these ideas and turns them into magical masterpieces that capture his free spirit. He sculpts glass not only in terms of an envisioned final form, more significantly, he sees glass art as a dance with light, forever engaged in a conversation with its natural environment. In the hands of this master, glass becomes transcendent, a spectacle of wonder and profound beauty that invites dialogue and introspection. 

“Deep into My Soul” is a blue whirl of undulation visualizing the movement of the firmament. Several ripples carved into the glass presumably represent those mysterious regions of one’s ephemeral emotions. “Naesa” is depicted in carved green glass shaped like a forming curvature of an impending wave. The interplay of loops and arcs are quite apt as visual correlatives for the subject. “Full of Grace” is a piece of bronze glass cleaving a wedge of brownish-yellow crystal, clearly representing the translucent fossil resin used for making jewelry. A similar piece is “Peaks of Splendour.” The wedges are amber crystal, and this synchronous multidimensional piece is a depiction of a valley of a naturally-formed gemstone formation.

In his more than three-decade artistic career, Ramon Orlina has consistently shown excellence and originality as a sculptor through the multi-faceted nature of this artist’s oeuvre. To be called the “Father of Philippine Glass Sculpture” when he won The Outstanding Filipino (TOFIL) Award in 2006, according to him, is enough to show him that his life’s work and dedication to the movement of glass art in the Philippines has duly been recognized.

Ramon Orlina’s “Apex” will be on view at Booth B1 of ManilArt 2018, located at the 3rd and 4th Levels of SMX Convention Center, SM Aura, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig from October 17 – 21, 2018. 

Galerie Raphael Shangri-la is located at Level 4, Main Wing Shangri-La Plaza Mall, EDSA cor. Shaw Blvd. Mandaluyong City and Galerie Raphael Serendra is at the Second Level, The Piazza Serendra Mall, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. For inquiries, contact Galerie Raphael Shangri-la at +63 (2) 941-6194 or email shang@galerieraphael.com.ph; or contact Galerie Raphael Serendra at +63 (2) 856-3034 or email