No Past No Present: Lao Lianben launches new collection and book

A deep, contemplative stillness pervades his works, which are veritable Zen-scapes. Consistently abstract, a minimalist character informs his meditations on the conceptual ideas of space, silence, light, enigma, and emptiness. Disdaining the allure of polyphonic and cosmetic colors, he imposes on himself the discipline of the non-colors black and white, and the varying tonalities of grays. Materiality and tactility directly appeal to his viewers' sense of touch, provoked by his masterful manipulation of thick impastos and rough-hewn surfaces. 

For over four decades, the works of Lao Lianben have cast an irresistible spell, creating for the artist an identity shrouded by distance and inaccessibility. Resolutely resisting the attraction of changing artistic idioms and movements, Lao Lianben trekked an individual path.

Blanc presents Lao Lianben's recent creative production in a solo exhibition billed as "No Past, No Present", the title references the Zen term for enlightenment, satori, "in which one sees that both time and substance are illusory." Deviating from his previous large scale format, the artist engages his attention with the diminutive, initiating a series of works that uniformly measure barely a square foot. Impressively, however, their modest size does not detract from their palpable presence and communicative strength. The show assembles exactly a hundred of Lao Lianben's new works.
Coinciding with the exhibition is the gallery launching of a coffeetable book memorializing the event. The book reproduces all the artworks in their actual sizes, written by noted art critic Cid Reyes, photographed by ace lensman Neal Oshima and designes by Aman Santos.

No Past No Present opens on Sunday 3PM March 13, 2011 at Blanc Compound, 359 Shaw Boulevard, Mandaluyong City. For further enquiries, please call telephone numbers 752 0032/+63920 927 6436 visit www.blanc.ph or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it