| Ramon
Orlina was born in Manila, Philippines. After completing
his architectural degree at the University of Santo Tomas in
Manila, he practiced architecture until 1974. He then began
his career in art painting, eventually turning to sculpture.
Drawing from his experience as an architect, Orlina chose to
create sculptures from glass which he felt at that time had
most potential in expressing his visual imagery. Exploring forms
though glass cullets or crystal blocks, the artist continue
to exploit their translucent quality and smooth finish produced
from months of reshaping and grinding.
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only 3-dimensional,
sculpture-in-the-round objects, but multi-dimensinal constructions
with no front or back orientation. One can view his pieces
from any point of view and interpret them beyond the artist's
intended form.
In this
sense, Orlina's achievement is in freeing the viewers to see
his sculptures in anyway they choose. He also frosts sections
of the surfaces with figurative motifs by etching directly
onto the glass while leaving most parts of it polished and
smooth. The illusions created through the various prisms intensify
the vieweršs imagination.
A multi-awarded
glass sculptor, Orlinašs reputation extends to art circles
and patrons in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Japan, U.S.A.
and the former Czechoslovakia. He has represented the Philippines
in the XVII Grand Prix Internationale D' Arte Contemporaine
de Monte Carlo in 1977; the Bienale Internationale de Arte,
Valparaiso, Chile in 1987; the Suntory Prize Exhibition, Japan
in 1994; the Toyamura International Sculpture Biennale, Japan
in 1995 , the 9th Asian International Art Exhibition, Taipeh,
1994; the Osaka Sculpture Triennale, Japan in 1992 and 1995.
The artist has been commissioned for public art sculptures
and has exhibited extensively.
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Awards
for Visual Arts in Kuala Lumpur from the ASEAN Business Forum.
From 1992 to the present time he has led the Art Association
of the Philippines as its president.
The year
1999 marked a high point in Orlina's career with his winning
the "Mr. F Prize" of the prestigious Toyamura International
Sculpture Bienale, '99 in Hokkaido, Japan. This biennial attracted
956 entries from 65 participating countries competing in all
mediums. The winning piece of Orlina was a dazzling white
optical glass sculpture called "Silvery Moon".
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suggested
in "Basketball Mi Mundo" which won the coveted First Prize
in the sculpture category of the II International Biennale
of Basketball in the Fine Arts held in Madrid in January,
2000.
In his
more than 25 years as a sculptor, Ramon Orlina has consistently
shown excellence, originality and daring as a sculptor.
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