Heritage plays an important part in the inception of New Jersey-based and New York-represented Filipino artist Gregory Halili’s repertoire. His past exhibits have always paid homage to the staggering visual rarities and cultural treasures of his motherland. Sepia-toned landscapes, light-infused scenes of olden days, a mixture of Filipiniana patterns, and wistful pictures are immortalized in Halili’s minute and delicate frames—not much larger than a regular stamp.

But while it still escapes Halili as to why a large portion of his pieces are inspired by and dedicated to unravel the confounding beauty and brilliance of the Philippines, guesswork would tell us that distance from and the many years spent outside his country contribute to the painter’s consuming passion.

His latest offering is no different from his past visual exhaustions and forays insofar as theme is concerned. Fashioned with watercolor on vintage ivory and oil on mother of pearl, Halili’s collection of 33 miniature paintings of saints and religious icons revere our country’s colonial and sacred past. Admittedly, his aim is not to recreate and restore lost mementos but to seemingly satisfy a personal whim to travel back in time, to contain and preserve our national history and culture, and to set off an appreciation toward tangible legacies.

Each piece is meticulously hand-cut, carved, polished, and encased in an antique reliquary and brooch, which Halili has searched and amassed throughout Manila. Inspired by the poignant imagery of the Semana Santa (Holy Week) and of the artist’s small antique collection, his works tell tales that lie behind the faces of our santos (saints). They explore and reveal a fragile sense of mystery, of devotion, and of nostalgia. Around for many centuries, the hallowed subjects in Halili’s works have probably seen everything the world has to offer—from creation to chaos, from lightness to darkness, from glee to gloom. They have been kept alive and incubated by the artist with a lucid and an illuminated sense of palpable love and loss.

--by: Pam Brooke A. Casin