Master sculptor goes mainstream

June 3, 2011

WILLY Tadeo Layug has always been a creature of habit. One would find him during early mornings working on his latest projects, a santo that needs repair or a masterpiece in the works.
Layug holds true to his craft in his shop in Barangay Sta. Ursula in Guagua’s Betis district. The village itself has a profound influence on the artist when he was still young.
Considered as the cultural center of Betis, the village is home to families with long traditions of sculpting, with wood sculpting and santo making as a bustling cottage industry.
The most well accomplished sculptor of his time, Layug remains both a beacon of light and inspiration among fellow artists. Layug is a Presidential Medal of Merit awardee for his outstanding achievement in the field of ecclesiastical art.
The award is not only a testament to his skill as an artist but to his contribution to the local art scene, being named Outstanding Guaguaño for sculpture and ecclesiastical arts. Layug is the most sought-after sculptor in the contemporary scene with his works prized by both collectors and critics alike.
In 2006, he opened Betis Galleria, a repository and showroom of his best works for all Kapampangans to see. Despite his remarkable achievements, Layug remains the simple man that he was. He is very amiable, a dedicated family man and does tennis with his loving wife before buckling down to work.
Sojourn to Spain
Layug still has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge to enrich his skills and ideas. He traveled to Seville, Spain where he studied the art of Estofado. With the Estofado technique, a sculpted figure is covered entirely in gold lead except for the hands, feet, and head. It is then over painted, and decorative patterns are scratched into the surface to reveal the underlying glit.
“I consider it as a responsibility of artists to search for ways and techniques to better one’s craft. One must grow as an artist and as a person. I have seen in Seville how people value crafts that they have and I want to replicate that here in Betis,” Layug said.
Layug finished BS Architecture and Fine Arts at the University of Santo Tomas as a scholar of Pampanga Governor Estelito Mendoza. He has this hobby of collecting books, coffee-table books on art and sculpture and magazines that he stores in a library at his majestic home.
His experience in Spain has imparted in him new ideas on how to merge ecclesiastical techniques in art into his contemporary works. He said that he still has much to learn and would be embarking on another educational trip abroad next year.
GSIS entry, contemporary art
Willy was invited to the GSIS National Open Sculpture and Painting gab this year. He acknowledges that his entry signals his coming into mainstream “serious contemporary art”.
His entry, dubbed “Bantayog ng Bagong Bayani,” fuses together his skills in ecclesiastical art, those raw signature touches of a folk artist and the refined techniques he learned from his many trips to cultural centers abroad.
The work represents the modern OFW, with a naked breast and draped in the flags of foreign countries. The piece symbolizes the difficulties and sacrifices of OFWs in many parts of the world. The work is hyperrealist in style and execution. An amazing work fit for the competition that will announce its winners soon.
Layug at the Ayala Museum
Layug will also be featuring a deconstructed portion of Pablo Picasso’s La Guernica, which is relatively one of his very important works that will be exhibited this month at the Ayala Museum.
Layug was chosen to become a part of an elite selection of artists from Spain and the Philippines to exhibit their works this coming June 6. The project, which is a collaboration of Ayala Museum and Spanish Embassy is entitled “The Guernica: A Deconstruction”.
Community as breeding place for art
In his spare time, Layug conducts free seminars on sculpture and painting. He believes that the future of local arts is in the next generation of community apprentices. Unselfishly, he personally imparts to them techniques he learned from his vast experiences. He is even studying the possibility of teaching ceramic painting to the young and women of the community.
“The greatest tragedy for an artist is never having the opportunity to share your knowledge to the next generation,” Layug said.
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For comments, suggestions, violent reactions, invites, indignant rebuttals and what-have-you email: ianocampoflora@yahoo.com(09173435197).

Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/pampanga/feature/2011/06/02/master-sculptor-goes-mainstream-159007

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