“Permutation Series II No.117 (B-XIX)” 1994
Acrylic on canvas. 152.4 x 304.8 cm; 60 x 120 in Philippine Bank of Communications 
“Permutation Series II No.111 (B-XIII)” 1994
Acrylic on canvas. 152.4 x 243.84 cm; 60 x 96 in Edwin Luy |
Permutation SeriesLike Zobel, Olazo’s acknowledged dominant influence, who made his breakthrough with the use of a hypodermic syringe, Olazo, too, serendipitously found in a US artshop, an instrument prosaically called a “striper” that would launch his next major series, titled “Permutation.”
Available in different widths, the “striper” allows the artist to lay down his pigment onto canvas with a clean, concise, unbroken tracery of lines. The Permutation is actually the outline of the Diaphanous minus the screens. The proliferation of lines is dependent on the pleasure of the artist. Often, each outline is rendered several times as in a misregistered stencil, creating an effect of vibration, like taut strings strummed. Against a stark, black field, Olazo will set loose a stun of lines in rhythmic succession. The canvas is irradiated with a spangle of lines like crackling electric wires, looping acrobatically in the still air. The result is a web of lines, a lariat thrown into a void. With graceful coherence, the lines exuberantly break into their own choreography. In the hands of Olazo, line, regarded as less emotive and servile in its role of patterning and delineation, is heightened in its expressivity and singlemindedness. - CID REYES / EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK: ROMULO OLAZO
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“Permutation Series II No.135” 2002
Acrylic on canvas. 152.4 x 76.2 cm; 60 x 30 in Manuel Salak III |
“Permutation Series II No.112 (B-XIV)” 1994
Acrylic on canvas. 121.92 x 243.84 cm; 48 x 96 in Metropolitan Museum of Manila 
“Permutation Series II No. 64” 1992
Acrylic on paper. 57.79 x 72.39 cm; 22.75 x 28.5 in GMA Network, Inc. |
From the Series
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