Milmar Onal's Greater Heights

The ebbs and flows of a landscape can often be distilled into its primary forms. What is difficult to replicate, however, is a landscape's energy and verve. Often teaming with life, this aspect is sometimes lost on abstractionists who instead prefer to focus on shapes and forms. Artist Milmar Onal, however, is different and refreshingly unique. His abstracted landscapes are frequently stunning in the way random visual hues of electricity can depict a beautiful display of light and energy.

Verve and energy characterize Milmar Onal’s artistic practice. An exhibition of his work, entitled “Greater Heights,” will be displayed at 2nd level Atrium,The Podium Mall at ADB Avenue Mandaluyong, City from August 2 to 6, 2017 with an Artist's Reception on Thursday, August 3, 2017, 6 o' clock in the evening. The exhibit will then be transferred to Galerie Joaquin Podium at Unit B12-B13, Lower Ground. "Greater Heights” is an embodiment of Onal’s development, as well as an apt description of his new oeuvre.

In many ways, Milmar Onal’s oeuvre is unique in his ability to capture the energetic character of the landscapes he paints. His approach to art mirrors the advancement of technology, and is inspired by the interludes of science. He, in turn, uses the abstracted forms of technology and electrical flow and molds them into fascinating landscapes that show his ability to control the random nature of electricity. These landscapes and forms are then set against static backgrounds to highlight the contrast between energy and stasis. 

The titular piece of the exhibition, “Greater Heights,” is a good example of this approach. The artist imagines a jagged mountain range against a blood-red sky—ostensibly depicting a sunset. A range of geometric and angular mountains in the foreground serves as an illuminating abstract vision that is given dynamism by the electrical currents that placed within the range’s shape. The very form of the mountain range is in itself highly reminiscent of an electrical current, albeit set in a highly geometric arrangement. 

A new way to see abstraction, “Greater Heights” will undoubtedly propel Milmar Onal to a higher plane of abstraction.

Galerie Joaquin Podium is located at Unit B12-B13, Lower Ground Level, The Podium, ADB Avenue, Ortigas Center, Mandaluyong City. For more information, please call (+632) 6347954, or email podium.galeriejoaquin@gmail.com.