Carlo Angelo Saavedra
Published March 21, 2022
At first glance, you’d think that Filipino contemporary artist Carlo Angelo Saavedra’s work is an explosion of emotional turbulence. With gestures, lines, textures, and compositions represented through a continuum of sorts, the multitude of outlined forms become abstractions of familiar shares right on the periphery of recognition. And while there might be some truth to his work’s emotions, there is also a gracefulness embedded in their untamed configurations.
Saavedra’s frenzied pile up of imagery is done with chaos and deliberation on often massive scale canvases. Each piece represents an honest excavation of his mind and movements in the moment. His colors are meant to strike up a relationship with the viewer’s deep consciousness as they seek to provide a contemplative, meditative space in which to visually investigate one’s own mood and affiliations with the palette. Saavedra seeks to distill an essence, or true nature out of codified hues. His gestures are that of a painter highly inspired by nature and marked by an unfettered spirit.
Carlo Angelo Saavedra is a self-taught artist who has participated in solo shows and group shows across Metro Manila including Art Informal Gallery and Underground Gallery. He has exhibited with artists Riel Hilario and Jose Tence Ruiz.