When art directs a director
The art of directing and the direction of painting, according to Louie Ignacio.
Louie Ignacio is in love with directing—movies, TV shows, music videos. Painting is a close second. But there really is no difference between painting and directing, is there? “Visually, there’s no difference because they are the same when it comes to framing the angles and shots. It’s like I am painting when I direct movies and music videos. It’s almost the same but the medium, of course, is different,” he says.
In his fifth solo exhibit “Symphony of Seasons,” on view at Galerie Anna at SM Megamall, Louie celebrates life and the seasons of colors and moods. “This is the best of the best, pigang-piga ako (so much was squeezed out of me). I said to myself that I wanted this to be grand because I am turning 50 this April and I am also celebrating 20 years in showbiz. So this would be my birthday exhibit,” says Louie.
His 59 paintings are mostly inspired from his travels in the Philippines and in Europe. Some are about seascapes, boulders, flowers, and mountains. Louie says he loves nature. Present in his exhibit are happy colors, textures, and the fluidity of water, the medium he is comfortable with. As a TV and movie director, he has developed a keen eye for composition and colors. “I am a happy guy. I don’t like negative things, so painting is like my stress ball. The happy colors help. And they add to my creativity as a director. Painting helps me create new concepts and angles,” says Louie.
But while it seems that direk Louie gets to direct his paintings, sometimes he cannot. His artworks won’t let him. “You cannot direct the water, especially when I use wet on wet technique with watercolors. I respect water. It has its own life. I let it flow. When you interfere with it, it will show in the painting. As long as I am happy with it, I let it be. Art ‘yan eh, hindi ako nagsusuplado (I’m not being snobbish),” he says.
But Louie is quick to add that painting isn’t just his hobby. It comes close to his personality. “People would say, ‘Oops, it’s only your pastime.’ I said no, this is my second career. And I feel happy I am accepted in the art world in the Philippines,” he says, adding that art masters like Manuel Baldemor, Romulo Galicano, and Sym—people he looks up to—visited his previous exhibits. “For you to be visited by the masters, it’s a nod to your artworks.”
The self-taught painter says he discovered painting 20 years ago, in his advertising days. Since then, he hasn’t stopped exploring the medium. He allocates time to his second love. Sometimes he does commissioned work. “I work better late in the evening or very early in the morning. I feel like I work better when I am dead tired after directing,” he says.
But among his happy and colorful paintings, Louie says his favorite is the black and white rendition of boulders called Between the Silent Peaks.
“The painting is breathing. While it’s black and white, it’s a happy painting. I am a director so madrama ako sa buhay (I have so much drama in life). It doesn’t mean that if it’s gray and black, it’s sad. Sometimes, happiness is in black and white. My music videos are like that, parang mga lumilipad sa bundok (like flying mountains),” says Louie.
Evident in all his paintings is his signature: a circle, or seemingly a moon, lurking around his artworks. “That’s the eye. I put my signature first and always draw the circle after. I always do that. That’s the sign that signals I am satisfied with my work,” says Louie.
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