"HOCUS: The Hofileña & Custodio Paintings" is a collaboration between two unlikely people: historian Saul Holifena Jr. and painter Guy Custodio. Curated by Ms. Gemma Cruz Araneta, the exhibit focuses on art that tells the story of the Philippines and the Church during the Spanish times. It really does give me the impression at first of colonial-era religious art because many of HOCUS oil paintings uses golds that contrast with murky tones that somehow fit the haunting images. Most of the paintings were made between 2014-2017 though so they're pretty brand new. 26 paintings join forces to make up this exhibit yet for this post, I'm going to show my favorites. 

This was the first painting I saw and it immediately became my favorite. I swear, I spent a lifetime just staring at it and all its glorious details! Took so much photos of its details too and will make a separate post about this painting soon. If I can afford to invest in artwork, I'd purchase this in a heartbeat--I just love this! It screams the obvious "Good vs Evil" theme yet there are so much underlying meanings. I die talaga, mga bes! 💓💓💓

Lectores de las palabras perdidas

In English, this translates as "Readers of the Lost Words". It shows friars blindfolded, trying hard to read the word of the Lord. 

My other favorite painting. I LOOOOOOOOOOVE the Rizal references and also the fact he is also in the photo(find him!). This bridge was mentioned in El Filibusterismo and is shown here in its unfinished state. I remember in the book, this was never finished because the friars thought it wasn't safe and stable enough but it survived through major natural disasters. 

When I read the artists' explanation for this piece, you can see that King Philip is in the center of this altar piece, surrounded by the patron saints who are normally known to the Filipinos such as San Isidro Labrador(patron of farmers)and St. Francis of Assissi. It will make you think if the Indios back then prioritized the king above all.

Dios esta esperando

"God is waiting" as you can see the indios waiting for their turn to reach to him. You can see how hey are blinded to the fact that one doesn't need to go through the hurdles of whether the friars will open the door for them or not: the walls are free and down and easy for one to enter. I also love how in going to the stairway to heaven, the people struggle in this chess-like journey when they can be like those men running up the stairway.

Special mentions are these paintings whose names I forgot huhu

This painting directly above  is interesting because you can see how the Church is at the top of the organ and you see the Indios climbing their way up, one even getting killed at the process.

Also, real 18th-19th century statues of Jesus were displayed in the exhibit. I've always been fascinated by old  holy statues because looking at them in person, the materials speak of a story like the one below. It's common for me to see wooden statues like this look like they have been exposed to free radicals(charot big word hahaha) due to it's rough surface but the crucifix is polished and good as new. How is that? I find that kinda cool lol.

This is another awesome one because the wood looks like it has been exposed to smoke(Black Nazarene, anyone?). The brass behind it is intriguing because some corners are bent and worn. I can only imagine how much this has been through after surviving for a very long time. 😄

I tell you that you MUST go to the National Museum if you haven't but if you already did, "HOCUS: The Hofileña & Custodio Paintings" is one exhibit you should not miss. How I wish this is permanent! Another exhibit to look out for besides Hocus is one that focuses on the Mañosa Brothers' works which I absolutely admire. 💓💓💓

Edit: I apologize for the absolutely shitty way this post was presented. I have no idea why the text sizes are different and why there are odd spacings. Trying to figure all that's wrong but then I have only started using Blogger again after years so bear with me lang po. I'll do better 😁