Now on its 8th anniversary, Himbon’s exhibition Tipulon highlights the group’s established iconography, articulated through the language of circular art that reflects its continuity, unity, and ever-evolving vision. The exhibition is an invitation to a symbolic feast. Here, art is rendered on dining plates of various types, sizes, ages, and conditions—alluding to a visual banquet that nourishes not only the body but also the heart and soul, thereby fulfilling art’s true function.

An “art on a plate,” so to speak, the title Tipulon, which means “circle” in Hiligaynon, continues Himbon’s tireless exploration of the rotundo technique. Introduced widely during the High Renaissance (late 15th to early 16th century), this method has become a hallmark of circular art, and Himbon has further developed its iconography through annual iterations since the collective’s formation in 2017.

Revisit: The circular art of Himbon and the ‘tondo’ technique

Tipulon features the work of  Aivee Genson, Anthony Castillo, Ariel Pineda, Carol Salvatierra, Cris Barredo, Edgardo Gonzales Jr., Edwin De Los Reyes, Eros Endencio, Gilbert Labordo, Harry Mark Gonzales, Kevin Fernandez, Kirby Majaque, Nick Lanes, Norman Vincent Acedera, Vic Fario, and Vic Nabor. Check out photos of works at the Himbon Album of IAL Facebook Page.

Over the past eight years, Himbon has consistently delved into the visual and symbolic significance of the circular form to convey messages, principles, and values. This exploration is reflected in the recurring titles of past exhibitions—Full Circle, Pagtililipon, and now Tipulon—each serving as both a commemoration of purpose and spirit, and a meditation on “unity, continuity, and the infinite flow of creativity” within an ever-changing local art landscape.

Decoding Circular Art 

As Tiffany Lambert notes in her essay Full Circle, “Artists have long confronted the circle to accord its form and symbolism with renewed appearances and meaning. Geometric concepts, including the circle, are evident in the disciplines of drawing, painting, and sculpture, and they occupy a multitude of ‘isms’—from Constructivism, Cubism, and Geometric Expressionism to the strategies of Minimalism.” 

This observation finds resonance in Ellsworth Kelly’s Circle Form (1951), an early yet definitive example of how the circle could transcend mere geometry to become a field of pure visual and spatial experience. Kelly stripped the shape of representational content, focusing instead on proportion, balance, and the sensory perception of form—qualities that align with Lambert’s assertion that the circle continually invites “renewed appearances and meaning.”

Lambert further observes that the machine age intensified this engagement, producing circular objects in design and inspiring formal experiments in art. Circle Form reflects this modern sensibility: its precise curvature and minimalist surface recall the engineered perfection of industrial design, while simultaneously asserting a quiet, meditative stillness that defies mechanical uniformity.

Speaking to German art critic Will Grohmann in 1930, Vasily Kandinsky described the circle as “the synthesis of the greatest oppositions. [It] combines the concentric and the eccentric in a single form, and in equilibrium. Of the three primary forms [triangle, square, circle] it points most clearly to the fourth dimension.” Kelly’s interpretation embodies this balance—an elegant tension between motion and stillness, material and void, precision and intuition.

Also revisit: Himbon Contemporary Artists Group marks 5 years

“The circle has, in many ways, formed the bedrock of human culture,” said Lambert, “moving across time periods, geographies, and genres into nearly every domain of knowledge. From ancient cosmologies and sacred mandalas to the scientific precision of planetary orbits and mechanical wheels, the circle persists as both a universal language and a vessel of meaning.” 

“The ubiquitous circle can be represented physically, it can be described mathematically, and it can be harnessed technologically. Such manifold interpretations of the circle suggest that its meaning lies in the eye (and mind) of its beholder,” writes Lambert.

A Wheel Within a Wheel

Pushing further from the concept of a symbolic feast, the collection in Tipulon also evokes the imagery of French songwriter Eddy Marnay’s Les Moulins de mon cœur, popularized in English as Michel Legrand’s Windmills of Your Mind. Its lyrics—“round, like a circle within a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel, never ending or beginning, on an ever-spinning wheel”—resonate deeply with Himbon’s ongoing exploration of circularity, reflecting Lambert and Kandinsky’s observations while reinforcing the exhibition’s meditation on infinite flow, continuity, and interconnectedness.

In Tipulon, the circle finds new expression through the intimate surface of the dining plate, a metaphorical canvas that transforms everyday experience into art. Where Kelly sought abstraction and reduction, Himbon seeks connection and reflection, bringing the circular form back to the communal table. In doing so, Tipulon completes its own rotation: a celebration of unity, renewal, and the endless cycle of creativity that nourishes both artist and audience alike.

Happy 8th Anniversary, Himbon Contemporary Artists Group!

Credits: 
*Circle Form, 1951. From the series Line Form & Color. Collage on paper. 7.5″ x 8″ (19.1 x 20.3cm). Courtesy of The Museum ofModern Art, New York. Gift of the artist and purchased with funds provided by Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder, Sarah Ann and Werner H. Kramarsky, Mr. and Mrs. James R. Hedges IV, Kathy and Richard S. Fuld, Jr. and Committee on Drawings Funds, 2001. © Ellsworth Kelly. (https://www.maharam.com/stories/lambert_full-circle?)