To ordinary folks and the uninitiated old broken stuff, garbage and other waste materials that end up either in landfills or floating in the sea are simply throwaway stuff. But to the beautiful minds and creative hands of an artist they present a vast and sometimes unmatched opportunity to create pieces that are matchlessly unique and often breath-takingly amazing.
In a growing response to excessive consumption and environmental degradation, was born the artistic movement known as recycled art or upcycled art. The artistic movement seeks to transform waste such as paper, cardboard, wood, glass, plastic, metals, and rubber into eye-catching works of art. The concept goes beyond the conventional re-using or recycling of junk materials by creating objects that exceed the economic, cultural, and social value of the original product.
But this is nothing new and it brings to mind the collages made by Pablo Picasso or George Braque with old newspapers or magazines at the beginning of the 20th century or even works belonging to schools such as Pop Art, Trash Art or Drap Art. But the concept itself was born in 2002 when William McDonough and Michael Braungart defined upcycling in their book Cradle to Cradle, “Redesigning the way we do things.” In the case of the artist Remo Valenton, he was way ahead of his time for he started doing his one-of-a-kind art pieces made from bits and pieces of junk, scrap metal and iron, old, corrugated iron sheets to be exact, in the early 60’s and 70’s as a form of protest to the excesses of the national government. In those days of disquiet and nights of rage, a time of intense unrest and upheaval that shook the country to its very core; the young Remo Valenton found himself caught in the middle of the swirling protest movement that threatened to change the country’s destiny for better or worse.
Remo Valenton studied Fine Arts at the Philippine Women’s University, majoring in Painting, he honed his innate skills and polished his knack for creative expression in the very same classrooms and corridors that produced some of the country’s most eminent artistic luminaries like pianist / composer Lucresia Roces Kasilag, choreographer / theater director Lucresia Reyes Urtula, singer / actress / producer Armida Siguion
– Reyna, National Artist for creative dance Leonor Orosa – Goquinco, guitatist and Dawn founder Teodoro
“Teddy” de Villa Diaz, figurative artist Wilfredo Alican, and Philippine water color master Rafael Arenillo
“Popoy” Cusi, among others.
Reclaimed steel and iron pieces plus Gl sheets get more love from Remo Valenton with a body of work that takes upcycling to a whole new level of awesomeness. He gives new meaning to the popular saying that
“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” by turning what are otherwise junk into artistic pieces that are worthy of praise and adulation.
As one pores over his works through the years, the word “wizard” briefly flashes before your eyes, but you dismiss the thought, ruminating the deep process of conceptualization, the mind-blowing visualization and the unimaginably meticulous process of putting it all together to come up with one cohesive eye-popping piece. Examining each piece closely, you get a deep appreciation of the brilliance of Remo Valenton’s mind, and how every minute component and intricate detail is exactly where it belongs. That is the magic of Remo Valenton and the appeal of a Remo Valenton piece – incomparable, ground-breaking, mind-boggling.
His unique art style while easily deemed to be abstract impressionism is in fact a rather ground-breaking and pioneering take on impressionism with a touch of experimental thrown in the mix, as it applies to the modern world. An avowed environmentalist, Remo Valenton, uses his exceptional art works to draw attention to the rampant consumption of commercialism which has unfortunately done almost irreparable damage to Mother Nature. Using his innate knack for finding beauty in the otherwise unpleasant and often repulsive state of many throwaway junks, he purposely and painstakingly uses them as a major component in his one-of-a-kind art pieces. Using stuff that people frequently take for granted, he weaves his magic on canvas, with a splash of vibrant colors, an unexpected twist, a new bend, and adding a dash of something distinctly Batangueno to recreate the world around us and Mother Nature’s raw beauty.
It is both an ode, a fitting reminder and an urgent call to continue to preserve the environment that has sustained us for the longest time and find ways to lessen the impact, perhaps even slowing down environmental degradation on the global stage and the future generations.
There are even instances that one finds himself almost looking at two art pieces in one. You see a vision from afar, and as you come closer, the pieces that were carefully placed together by the artist Valenton, as if by magic, unravels right before your eyes into a completely different impression or image. Not one to dictate the meaning of each piece, this is the artist Remo Valenton teasing the audience, allowing them to create their own stories based on their own experiences and realities.
It shows his conscious effort to connect,
affect, influence, and urge people to think and maybe even re-think their own beliefs towards becoming their best selves. It clearly shows a genuine love for his artistry and a deep appreciation for how art and creativity is an intrinsic part of our lives, and that every person is himself an artist, and oftentimes, either the individual is not yet aware of his innate talent or perhaps the person is already carving his own path towards being his
At the heart of all art there is symbol. Art is as different and beautiful or ugly or powerful or trivial as it can be when it acts as a symbol. And what art can symbolize is limited only by the artist. Junk just sits there symbolizing nothing, unless the artist and the viewer connect and bridge the so-called divide to jointly explore the aesthetic richness of the symbols leading to a view of something new, different or something you might not have otherwise noticed was there all along.
Junk or throwaway stuff just sits there discouraging imagination, and very few artists can start with something utterly useless and do that symbolic magic of transforming it into something awesomely beautiful.
The avant garde Remo Valenton is one of those gifted talents who magically transforms a blank canvas, adroitly choosing and putting together a mix of otherwise unrelated stuff into something wondrously cohesive, excitingly captivating, deeply profound and something worthy of a spot in any major gallery or museum.
That is the essence of “Remoism,” and that is what makes Remo Valenton, the Batangueno visual storyteller, founder of BAGSIK (Batanguenong Grupo sa Sining at Kultura), a seasoned veteran of numerous art exhibitions here and abroad, utterly unique, and truly world class. His one-of-a-kind creations are a living testament of where he has been, how he got to where he is now, and what life still has to offer in the great
Coming off his most recent and very first one man show at the Museo ng Batangas billed as “The Exposition of Remoism,” the art world awaits with bated breath what Remo Valenton has in store as his next major milestone.
