Ardent Returns

Through their distinctive practices, artists Nixxio Castrillo, Michael Pastorizo, Camille Ver, Ralph Villaluz, and Ombok Villamor present a collection of works that contemplate the returns and retrievals of things familiar, and perhaps forgotten or lost, with each divergent visual language reaching for the deeply personal yet profoundly universal.

Sculptor Nixxio Castrillo, son of the late Ed Castrillo, forges his own artistic path, imbuing geometric structures with touches of lyricism. Known best for his incisive and angular constructions, Castrillo’s metallic forms here take the familiar shape of a stuffed Teddy bear, as he taps into an acute sense of comfort and contentment found only in nostalgic longing.

For painter Camille Ver, the canvas is a repository of uninhibited feeling. Sweeps and speckles of color dance across the surface, invigorated by the musicality of the artist’s brushstrokes. Within each layer and detail, there is a recall to something deeply familiar and personal to the beholder and about the artist — something to be found at once in the meditative searching and unbridled curiosity that Ver’s works draw.

With a keen sense of geometric simplicity, Michael Pastorizo’s chromatic compositions are a testament to the beauty and order of the natural world. As the artist examines and navigates the patterns of a world in constant flux, his floral forms burst forth with unwavering optimism about change and growth. Meanwhile, Ralph Villaluz’s verdant compositions catch the light in their own way, with each leaf translucent and enchanting in its delicate unfolding. Yet, in the artist's treatment of color and texture, there persists an intensity that heartens and envelops.

Grace and vigor similarly contour the abstracted life forms of painter Ombok Villamor. A melding of incisive gestural strokes and fluid precision, his painterly orchestrations at once bring to mind things telluric and cosmic. We may look to Villamor’s work to discern the rhythm and flow by which the universe runs, and find it is not so different from ours.

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