Luxe

Through their individual creative practices, visual artists Marge Organo, Marco Coching, Rafaelle Louise, and Raisa Luz showcase sublime examples of how the deliberate control of finite colors and mediums are integrated to produce movement and rhythm in harmonious synergy. Drawn to the contradictions of the solid with the gestural, the artists utilize their chosen perimeters to achieve a distinct sense of balance in relation to each other’s works.

The works for “Luxe” reflect on the threshold of life — a showcase of the atmospheric, mysterious, and moody; yet airy, elegant, and powerful at its optimal. It is the conclusive expression of each artist’s imagined landscape and honest response to the adversities and triumphs of life despite its limitations. Focusing first on the rudiments of painting, visual artist Marge Organo then moved to figurative sculpture using resin and bronze as her earlier media. Organo then continued to pursue studies in glass sculpture at the prestigious and internationally renowned Studio of the Corning Museum of Glass in New York. She was awarded a scholarship in her 2nd year of study at that prestigious institution. After the artist’s stint at Corning, she was accepted at the Kamenicky Senov, the oldest glass-making school in the world located in the Czech Republic where she learned glass casting under the tutelage of top-notch Czech artists. Taking various techniques, Marge Organo has learned from these leading institutions and from her own practice, continuously honing craftsmanship and elevating her methods to a masterly extent.

Marco Coching’s luminous paintings are an extension of works that came before: contemporary landscapes that made the artist’s building oeuvre. He considers luminosity as somehow a study of light, and the ways in which it changes the appearance of things. A Fine Arts graduate of University of Santo Tomas, Coching is the grandson of National Artist Francisco V. Coching, the “Dean of Filipino Illustrators”. With this in mind, Marco took on a different approach in terms of his visual storytelling, and his signature flowing elements are a presentation of the artist’s conceptual take on luminous hues and abstracted forms.

Rafaelle Louise (b.1990) studied Visual Communication at the College of Fine Arts at the University of the Philippines, Diliman. Rafaelle describes her oeuvre as a “modern interplay between action painting and minimalism, where the end product stands somewhere between painting and sculpture”. With her use of metallic pigments, Rafaelle Louise aims to capture radiance and illumination from within. By producing art from a place of self-reflective observation and reverence, she is able to closely examine the unnamable — the honest, raw, unabashed, and precarious aspects of life. Raisa Althea Tajon Luz (b.1991) is a Filipino glass sculptor born in San Francisco, California. She is the daughter of esteemed glass sculptor Marge Organo, having shared a familial bond with the art of sculpting glass. Following her mother's footsteps, she was taught how to sculpt coldworked glass in 2017, then later studied at the Bullseye Glass Company and Corning Museum of Glass in the United States to further learn and hone her craft in kiln forming glass. Her works comprise exceptional variations of layering, melting, and laminating kiln-formed glass – enterprising an oeuvre of opalescent and transparent glass pieces in an assortment of shapes and forms that arise a diverse selection of designs. Raisa’s debut piece for this year’s ManilArt deems close to her sentiment; the kiln-formed glass piece is metaphoric of the sun by manifesting beliefs and inspirations of a new day, a new beginning. “As the sun always rises, also does new opportunities. It has inspired me to become better every new day as it’s another gift of life,” the artist concludes. “Luxe” featuring works by Marge Organo, Marco Coching, Rafaelle Louise, and Raisa Luz will be on view at Booth A2 of ManilArt 2022, located at the 3rd Level of SMX Convention Center, SM Aura, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig from October 19 to 23, 2022.

Galerie Raphael Shangri-La is located at Level 4, Main Wing Shangri-La Plaza Mall, EDSA cor. Shaw Blvd. Mandaluyong City and Galerie Raphael U.P. Town Center at the 2/F Phase 2, U.P. Town Center, Katipunan Ave., Diliman, Quezon City. For inquiries, contact Galerie Raphael Shangri-La at +63 915 739 1549 or email shang@galerieraphael.com.ph; or Galerie Raphael U.P. Town Center at +632 8247 1109 or email galerie.raphael@gmail.com.