CID REYES DOES THE RHUMBA

“The virus made me do it,” Cid Reyes joking-ly says when asked about what sparked the idea behind his ongoing show, “Rhumba: Geometry in Motion,” at the Galeria Amalia.

- TERENCE REPELENTE

“But seriously, the long pandemic lockdown, the sudden shutdown of the reality we are all used to, which has affected all our countrymen and really has changed the world, has caused me to look at my life, therefore my art and my writing, from another perspective.”

Covid-19 has indeed impacted and continues to impact, every one of us one way or another. In the case of Reyes, the pandemic has led him to an unexpected artistic shift, from doing “hardcore” abstractions to meticulously constructing geometric ones, characterized by precise and calculated shapes and forms, instead of the usual accidental, non-cohesive style often seen in his action paintings. For him, this sudden shift is a manifestation, “a way of imposing order, harmony, and discipline projected onto the world,” with his recent works serving as an “external expression of that hope and desire.”

In many ways, this desire for harmony is evident in “Rhumba,” a show that revolves around provincial, native, and festive themes. With works like Moriones, Harana, and Prusisyon, Reyes seemingly channels not only a nostalgia for old Filipino cultural relics and activities but a collective past replaced by our current, socially distanced reality.