Recurring images or iconographies exist throughout much of art and literature. Certain archetypes fascinate painters and artists and as such become embedded in their body of work. In this recent exhibit by Duddley Diaz, he focuses on several images that have become part of his psyche and extrapolate themselves in his sculptures in several mediums: wood, bronze, alabaster, marble and clay.

Exploring the unknown an unexplainable through mythology, Duddley waxes poetic in paying homage to several mythical characters – Haliya, the masked moon goddess; Bakunawa, the moon-eating dragon who is said to cause solar eclipses; Bululeros, a hybrid demi-god, whose roots are taken from ancient Ifugao and Greek traditions.

Duddley Diaz creates an exhibit that is small and intimate playing on the qualities of alabaster, and the way it allows light to shine through. Alabaster is a material that has been prized for its translucence, its rarity. It has been used in sacred images from the Greek, Roman times to today.

Filipino modern artist, Duddley Diaz whose works are displayed in places like San Tommaso a Lama Church, Perugia Italy, has been part of numerous solo shows and group shows in the Philippines, US and Italy from 1984 to present. He studied Fine Arts at the University of the Philippines Diliman, then furthered his art studies in sculpture and painting in Academia di Belle Arti, Florence, Italy. In 2000, he received the Pamana ng Lahi Presidential award for Outstanding Filipino Abroad. In 2005, he received the Grand Prize for Sculpture from the Metrobank Foundation. In 2009, The UP Jorge B. Vargas Museum honoured him with a retrospective entitled “Messenger of the Gods, A Duddley Diaz Retrospective” covering 40 years of his career, and launched his latest book written by Dr. Alice Guillermo entitled, “The Art of Duddley Diaz”.

-Galleria Duemila

Image: © Duddley Diaz