In Michael Villagante’s recent oil paintings, the artist’s distinct texture and ability to evoke past masters and mythology shine. A recent body of work, under the title of “Higher Ground” in a recent show at Art Verité in his native Philippines, takes his work in a direction that offers more peace than turmoil, even as the human body is overtaken by the surrounding elements.
“The figures in his works, either in unison such as in the title piece “Higher Ground (See My Heart)” or alone in the rest, exhibit a certain weightlessness, as though what had been dragging them all along were suddenly released,” the gallery says. “In that rarefied realm where their feet meet clouds and their heads commune with a dreamy mass of animals, they enter a zone of pure and absolutely detachment, shrugging off worldly cares and concerns.”
See more of his paintings below.
