• CHRYSEE G. SAMILLANO
Renowned international visual artist Wayne Lacson Forte opened his fourth solo exhibition at The Negros Museum, Bacolod City yesterday, which is set to run until April.
Titled “Chromatic Narratives”, the show features for the first time the abstract works of Forte, a Filipino-American religious artist, who was born in Manila in 1950 and raised in the United States, and was married in Brazil in1981.
Leading the opening were Virgilio Reyes, former Philippine Ambassador to Italy and South Africa, and Cristina Montelibano and Mila Chiu, Negros Cultural Foundation vice president and secretary, respectively.
“I believe that abstraction tells a story that realism cannot reach. It is a story told in the language of the ‘beginning’ – a nod to the first abstract act of creation from nothingness. In these paintings, I invite the viewer to become sensitized to the formal elements not just as tools, but as characters in an unfolding drama,” Forte said in a statement.
“Wayne, a true Visayan at heart, is no stranger to this institution. Over the years, we have witnessed the growth of his artistic practice through his solo exhibitions at The Negros Museum, including Filipino themes in 2014, May Reklamo Ka?, in 2016, and most recently, the Wayne Forte Restrospective in 2023,” Lyn Gamboa, president of The Negros Museum and Negros Cultural Foundation, said.
The artist studied at the University of California at Santa Barbara and Irvine (B.A. 1973; M.F.A. 1976). He has been a member of CIVA (Christians in the Visual Arts) for 25 years and has participated in the Florence Portfolio Project in 1993. He has also taught courses at Biola University and Gordon College, Orvieto Campus, Italy.*
