THE National Museum presents in Vigan, starting Thursday (October 18), an exhibit of works by noted social realist Neil Doloricon, billed as Inukit Na Pahayag: Tatlumpu’t Limang Obra ni Leonilo ‘Neil’ Doloricon. The featured works in this exhibition are from the 50 prints which the artist generously donated to the National Museum, and were presented to the public in September 2017 in an exhibition entitled Handog Sa Bayan: Isang Solong Pagtatanghal ni Leonilo Doloricon held at the National Museum of Fine Arts.

Inukit Na Pahayag brings into focus the signature elements which make Doloricon’s work distinct from other Social Realists and other Filipino artists. First is his preference for printmaking techniques which involve pag-uukit or carving. The techniques of woodcut, linocut and rubbercut all involve the laborious process of first carving out, usually with the aid of woodcarving tools, a negative which is made from wood, rubber or linoleum.

His mastery of these techniques are demonstrated in all his works but some of the most outstanding, include Sa Mga Kukong Agila, Bonifacio,Tutubing Bakal and Mason which boast multidirectional incisions creating the effect of dynamism and energy. His creative imagination is tested as his chosen printmaking technique of the relief processes wherein the cut portions end up carrying the color of the paper, while it is the uncut portions that carry the ink and thus printed the final image.

Second, is Doloricon’s commitment in using his artworks as pahayag or a means of communicating socially relevant messages in relation to issues on agrarian problems, labor and other socio-political issues. Doloricon was part of the Kaisahan group of artists who were espousing nationalism in art and other social issues especially during the 1970s and 1980s and became known as the Social Realists.

He is among a few from the group however, who continue producing these kinds of imagery up to the present. But Doloricon has the distinction of producing the most powerful images in black and white, whether it is through his editorial cartoons, being an editorial cartoonist for several print media since the late-1980s, and also starting his prints at around roughly the same year.

Though a master of black and white, this exhibition also features some of his rarely seen early works which feature multilayered prints, including Sakada, Halina, The Builders and Pwersang Anak-Pawis. According to Doloricon, he started out using plates of several colors until he recognized the impact and power of his black and white prints. Doloricon still adds color to his work every now and then, but instead of using multilayered prints, he colors them by hand as in Tutubing Bakal which has both black and white and colored versions.

The National Museum hopes that this exhibition in the city of Vigan would be the beginning of a traveling exhibition of Doloricon’s works, and an opportunity to educate the public about printmaking, Social Realism and in line with the Museum’s goal in filling in the gaps in Philippine Art History.