The PG Zoluaga Compendium is a writer’s retrospective of his works through solo shows that I followed before the pandemic. A highly revered abstract artist from Iloilo, Zoluaga’s works are like poetry pieces rich with metaphors.

“I learned about art from the moment I started appreciating the beauty of the things around me,” he shared in one interview, and it started as far back as when Zoluaga was 5-years-old.

The compilation of features and reviews in this compendium perhaps shows Zoluaga’s provocative collection with motifs inspired by the impactful issues happening around us, which he depicted using earth tones and playful dark shades and bright hues to convey his thoughts of the political, cultural, social, and environmental happenings, with each shape, color, and texture conveying his personal emotion and message of concern.

Zoluaga’s abstract works serve as a visual journal for the artist and a visual proof of the events of our times. Unfortunately, most of the art spaces that hosted these collections are no longer operational, like Gallery i at the heritage icon Eusebio Villanueva Building at the Calle Real for Habitat in August 2017, Fitstop Bites and Bikes at the Diversion Road for Tracks in September 2017, and Damgo (January 2019) and Black Valentine 1 (January 2019) at the Arte Tierra Art Space, which used to be inside the Festive Walk Mall. Of those spaces, only the Book Lattè Alternative Art Space has remained, where the sequel to the Black Valentine collection was exhibited, titled Black Valentine 2.

Habitat

PG Zoluaga converted the Gallery i (Gallery Iloilo) into a learning venue on environmental science as he engages the viewers with a narrative on ecology through his works titled Habitat.

Zoluaga sets the tone and context of his collection by explaining the origin of habitat, which is habitare in Latin, meaning it inhabits. He used the definition to refer to the natural environment in which an organism or a population normally lives, and it serves to remind us that we live in a habitat. The works depict the current state of the environment, and the canvases showed the familiarity of Zoluaga with the subject as an environmental activist, conservationist of local culture and practices, and art and environment educator, making the work persuasive and educational.

The Habitat walks you through the most relevant and compelling subjects debated globally and confronted by many local communities: climate change, environmental destruction, and ecological justice.

The collection displayed PG Zoluaga’s deep understanding of the subject matter as he effectively assembled a visual narrative of the otherwise complex subject of science and ecology in abstract art. The collection examines the issues and deliberates the causes of environmental destruction, the extinction of species, and the potential extermination of the human race.

The collection is woven into a three-part story: Black Habitat, Red Habitat, and Green Habitat—the main thematic colors that Zoluaga used to indicate death, alarm, hope, and rebirth.

The Black Habitat

In Black Habitat, Zoluaga depicted the massive loss of habitation for millions of flora and fauna species as a result of pollution and unmitigated deforestation.

Zoluaga employed black color to dominate the collection, an approach he employed to connect to the viewer the rapid oxidation of our natural resources and by accentuating the pieces with lighter colors to show the transformation from destruction to disrepair of the natural environment.

The main message that Zoluaga intends to convey in Black Habitat is for people to value the gift of nature by finding ways to reduce environmental destruction. It encourages individuals to take necessary steps like minimizing their carbon footprints in order to help resuscitate Mother Earth.

The Black Habitat is narrated in 10 individual art pieces of 18″x24″, Acrylic on Canvas, highlighted by four 18″x24″, Acrylic on Canvas.

The Red Habitat

The Red Habitat offers a mental image of the greatest catastrophe that can occur to human beings: destruction and death. The red color was used by Zoluaga as a method to transport the viewer’s imagination to the irreversible destruction that war can bring to humans and societies.

In this set, Zoluaga attempted to illustrate the brutality and horrors caused by war and the devastation of the natural environment in its aftermath. It warns of the atrocities it creates in innocent lives and the potential extermination of the human race from the use of modern artillery and chemical weapons.

The Red Habitat is narrated by two 24″ x 48″ side pieces and a 96″ x 96″ Acrylic on Canvas as the centerpiece.

The Green Habitat

The Green Habitat is an abstract presentation that illustrates the remaining greens of the land and the important role that they play in sustaining life on earth. The Green Habitat also demonstrates the adaptation of remaining species to threats and impacts brought about by climate change.

The Green Habitat drives to consciousness the deep concern for the environment. The four-piece 48″ x 48″ Acrylic on Canvas collection is Zoluaga’s call to action, a challenge to people to help find innovative ways and create initiatives that can improve awareness and highlight the role of humanity in preserving Mother Earth.

The Green Habitat imparts hope and emphasizes that collective effort is essential to preserving the remaining greens of our environment. Zoluaga believes that the preservation of what remains of the natural environment is crucial for the revitalization of forests and green spaces and a key process that will pave the way for the rebirth of our habitat.

Tracks | PG Zoluaga’s Art Trails

A poet can sit as a passenger in the jeep and find a subject to write about. Street photographers take long walks along crowded streets and narrow sidewalks to capture issues in photos. PG Zoluaga rides a bike, and the experiences that he embraced pedaling alone will bring your eyes to his art in TRACKS, PG Zoluaga’s Art Trails.

A track is a path or trail made by people or animals walking through a field or forest. It is said that we will be known forever by the path that we take and the tracks we leave. Some call it a footprint, with the path serving like dots that connect where one started its journey to its destination.

Tracks exhibited the trail that PG Zoluaga traversed as a biker in visual art form. The art pieces showed were not at all about the bike as a manual machine or transport equipment, but rather a chronicle of the experiences gathered by Zoluaga from his biking.

Indie biker

The works of Zoluaga depict his encounters with the environment around him and the community that he passes through as an “indie biker,”  a moniker that he used to describe riding alone.

Zoluaga rides his bike as a way to get in touch with nature and the environment, a subject with which he regularly deals, whether in visual art form or in music. “I also enjoy riding with friends and groups; group rides, however, are usually bounded by rules and by defined routes. Riding alone, on the contrary, provides more freedom to take random routes and stopovers, and I find these essential for artists like myself,” shared Zoluaga.

Riding alone likewise offers the indie biker in Zoluaga the liberty to explore the sites and pedal inward into the interiors of unfamiliar communities in order to absorb the sounds that characterize their daily lives and assist his understanding of the elements that affect the environment.

“I also take routes where there are green areas and bodies of water. It offers a beautiful feeling of communing with nature,” intoned Zoluaga.

Early morning rides are reenergizing for Zoluaga. “Morning rides allow me to savor the beauty of the sunrise. It brings me new energy and revitalizes hope for a new day,” he underscored.

Another dimension to art

There are many artists who ride bikes as a way to maintain a balanced and healthy lifestyle. Many artists likewise ride bikes as advocates for environmental protection, road safety, road sharing, and inclusive mobility. But riding a bike gives another dimension to his art, said Zoluaga.

As an indie biker, “riding offered another dimension for me considering my environmental protection advocacies,” explained Zoluaga, and “it allowed me to bring out new subjects from the experience, and it enhanced my interpretation through art.”

Riding a bicycle resembles Zoluaga’s art journey, as it brought new wisdom that added confidence and strength to the artist. A good long ride creates new trails for him and helps clear his mind, a necessary process that restores his faith.

Damgo | A personal reflection of PG Zoluaga

The abstract works in Damgo are described by Zoluaga as a representation of a stream of thoughts, emotions, and discoveries. The collection facilitates the re-emergence of events that happened at the subconscious level by bringing them to the conscious level as a person navigates to reach the most secret part of the human soul in order to acquire a new understanding of the self.

The collection in Damgo serves like a lamp that lights up the path as a person takes one cautious step after another. Every piece helps one identify the dark spots that were ignored in spite of repeated manifestations in dreams as he walks towards the inner sanctum of the tunnel, which is the self.

This messaging using the canvas is emblematic of a Zoluaga—messaging that intends to transform oneself through relearning, constant assessment, and reflection of its state in order to attain improvement as a human being and become effective in transforming society for the better.

Contrary to the traditional visual rendition of dreams, Zoluaga admittedly did not use concrete images in Damgo. He rather presented heavy texturing by using a mix of soft colors and dark hues to provoke an inner feeling, incite a mood, or revisit a memory that may have existed only at the unconscious level. This is a contemporary approach by Zoluaga to present something profound.

From rough to gentle strokes of textures splashed with subdued colors, Zoluaga’s Damgo suggests that viewers journey towards the inner self, and it encourages them to reflect on the events that manifested in their dreams in order to discover something new or to rediscover what was left unseen in the images.

Each stroke in the 13-piece work rendered on canvas using acrylic serves as a cryptic message that many events that manifest in our dreams are waiting to be unlocked. The artist’s experiences, memories, and circumstances that flowed like a stream of consciousness in his dreams were his inspirations for creating his art for this collection.

PG Zoluaga believes that it is the passageway that allows us to see and feel a glimpse of what is beyond our consciousness. Damgo is a personal reflection of the artist on what he calls a supernatural communication or a means of Divine intervention.

Black Valentine | An Intimate Collection of PG Zoluaga

The second edition of Black Valentine is an intimate collection by PG Zoluaga composed of eight acrylic on canvas masterpieces exhibited at Book Latte Alternative Art Space. The first edition was mounted at the Arte Tierra Art Space, inside the Festive Walk Mall.

Zoluaga is known for offering something new at every show. “These are new pieces, he shared with a soft voice, “for I make it a point to bring fresh and timely artworks for the public to see, learn, and appreciate.”

This is perhaps the reason why a Zoluaga artwork is something to look forward to, even in a group show. His works are usually engaging because of the relevant themes and subjects that he deliberates on in his attempt to raise public consciousness through his art.

While the color black is associated with elegance and formality, Zoluaga shared that it is not a color associated with love. Therefore, the show is an attempt to actually exist outside of the traditional way that Heart’s Month is commemorated.

Through the collection, Zoluaga strived to convey a message about how love can be celebrated even in unconventional ways. “We must celebrate love, whether unrequited or reciprocated, just like we celebrate life and death. The birth of a new-found love and its death when an affair ends are worth reminiscing about during the season,” intoned Zoluaga.

Zoluaga used black as a dominant color to symbolize silence, for he believed that it is only in darkness that one can hear the loudest longing of hearts.

These feelings are evident across the pieces in the show, especially in the series Living Separate Lives 1 and 2 and Out of the Blue and into the Black 1 and 2. A viewer can emotionally relate to the message of the piece Battle Scarred Heart, which is a recurring reminder of a heart that is longing for peace and contentment.

The artworks, which are mostly mounted in an 18 x 24 inch frame, uncover the burning desire of the heart to be heard as they portray feelings of bitterness, pain, angst, and suffering—thoughts and emotions that may well have been described as “the heaviest of burdens” by author Milan Kundera and German thinker Friedrich Nietzsche in books that they have written.

Zoluaga’s pieces Tangled Up in Black, Life in Solo, and Trilogy may well have captured viewer emotions from their experiences of sharing intimacy and love with someone along the course of their lives.

For the artist, suppressing these emotions can be the greatest punishment we can bring to ourselves; thus, they need to be expressed through art.

Black likewise imparts the idea of the temporariness of things, for everything that is beautiful carries a certain sadness. “Our experiences of love, whether good or bad, will always remind us about something that is beautiful, for at a certain point in our lives we have also learned not to love,” he underscored.

Yet love needs to be celebrated in spite of its impermanence, said the artist, and he encourages everyone to engage in a contemplative moment and savor the quintessence of Black Valentine. “While black may have a negative feel or aura, it is inseparable from all the beautiful facets of life,” said Zoluaga.

Note on PG Zoluaga Compendium:
– The featured photo is titled Trilogy, part of the Black Valentine Collection.