Untitled (1983)

At the pinnacle of his teachings in the academe, Martino Abellana emphasized art techniques that his students would attempt to emulate out of respect and adoration for the painter’s style and coloring. These techniques included the ‘Two Polar Extremes and Tensions’ and the ‘Prismatic Modulation of Colors’ which worked hand-in-hand as they reflected Martino’s understanding of color, allowing his paintings to demonstrate his color theory through bold strokes. This very artwork–an untitled, 1984 oil on canvas painting–highlights his prismatic modulation technique, as exhibited by the iridescent array of colors that replicates the peaceful scenery: a calm river, towering trees, and a man bending over, carrying what seems to be a basket.

In this technique, Martino utilizes warm colors, such as yellow, orange, and red, to paint areas of the landscape that were illuminated by light. In contrast, the areas that lay in the shade were painted with cool colors, such as blue and violet. The green was used to mediate the contrast of orange and blue, in order to harmonize the warm and cool colors into one prismatic vision within the painting. As seen in the artwork, bold strokes of yellow, orange, and red reproduced the sunlit river and trees, while a modulation of blue and violet replicated the freshness of the river–allowing the viewer to feel its chilliness.

Martino’s teachings, more so his techniques, continue to remain as a legacy to the students in the four universities he taught at. Eventually, these young students emerge to be the leading artists of today’s regional art scene, taking to memory the learnings they obtained from the Dean of Cebuano Painters.