I’m not an artistic person nor am I the one who loves art. I do know how to appreciate one but most of the times, I just don’t get it.
Eye-catching
With that in mind, you would expect that if I was in a museum, I will just look at the artwork and then move to the next one. But seeing the painting of Nena Saguil entitled “Tag-Ani sa Bukid” I can’t help but be in awe. It’s a simple artwork colored with the hues of pink, purple and red, a painting as big as a standard notebook and put in the middle of two relatively larger ones. Despite its size and visibility (position-wise), I was captivated by the vibrant colors used for it just catches your eye and makes your feet stay where they are.
The painting depicts the celebration of farmers in the time of good tidings and good harvest. With a simple scenery of a traditional farmland rendered by a blood red-roofed hut on the right side and three triangles on the left side of the painting, two in the shade of pink and the other in red, seem to represent the tall mountains; a hot pink horizon with vertical wavy lines in both sides, with the native black gray-horned carabao standing on the lower left side of the view; and a purple back draft with an intricate white scale-like pattern.
The characters in the artwork can be easily interpreted as well. The farmers sing and dance together to a tune. The two men are wearing the traditional camisa de tsino while the two women are wearing their baro’t saya with underskirts. The woman who appears to be singing stands by the right side of the hut while looking at the man who sits in front of the hut in an Indian sitting position, playing his black guitar. On the other hand, the other couple seems to be dancing together. The lady can be seen in the middle of the piece dancing in her red ruffled-neckline dress while holding a pink handkerchief with which she captures the essence of the artwork very well. While her partner dances on the left side of the painting in front of the mountains. Their clothes are hued with the same bright and bold colors used in the scenery of the painting.
All in all, the masterpiece of Ms. Saguil is truly a simple but a very straightforward painting representing the farmers who have worked hard and celebrated the feast of harvest time.
The OC 