Frelan Laurel Gonzaga is a well-rounded Visayan artist based in Negros Occidental, Philippines. His educational background in Marketing (University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos, Bacolod City, 1998-2005) and his musical inclinations made him artistically prolific.
Although he started a bit late in the visual art scene Frelan is anything but non-progressive. On the contrary, he has shown an impressive development within a short period of time; considering that he has remained focused on his music while supporting his family as well.
In 2011 he became a member of the Art Association of Bacolod (AAB) which paved way for his works to be made more visible to the local art audience. After actively joining more than twenty group exhibitions in the Philippines since 2008, he impressively came up with his first solo exhibition entitled-“Tindak”last June, 2013 in Gallery Orange, Bacolod City.
In “Tindak” (to kick, or to pedal) Frelan depicted his deep fascination with the humble workers of his hometown, particularly to pedicab drivers (a pedicab is a three-wheel transportation driven by the act of pedaling) or street vendors who are required to sell whole-day by pedaling through market areas.“For my first one-man exhibition, I tried to merge my impression of them and insights into their own personal tales. My works are not a judgment of them, but it is a retelling of a part of their lives, as what I learned and I observed on the streets of San Carlos City. I felt that a balance had to be created between the reality of a back-breaking existence, and the joy that can still rise up from a life spent in poverty. My use of bright vivid colors is an attempt to create that balance of happiness and sorrow,” states the artist.
If anything, this queer sense of relativity one has with Frelan’s outlook is, perhaps, because of his natural sensitivity to people and their stories of struggle. The air of familiarity might be rooted to the innate good of human nature which now’a’days seems to grow bleaker and bleaker. The artist looks into the different personas of people especially in the low-income economic areas of his region and flatters them with images of hope; an almost heroic and noble aura about them in the paintings.
Frelan is one of the artists in residence lined up in Project Space Pilipinas, Lucban, Philippines for 2014 and will soon put up a solo exhibition in Manila.
