CARLO MAGNO:
GEOMETRY OF CREATION

The observation that there is a definite order in creation expressed by ancient cultures ascriptions like “the golden mean”, the “divine proportion”, “sacred geometry” and with which they built religious structures like temples, mosques, cathedrals, and other important complexes that connote the desire of man to be one with the divine, is shared by Carlo Magno in “Geometry of Creation.”

In this exhibition, the artist not only acknowledges that the underpinning order to the cosmos, manifested for example in the crystalline clusters of minerals, the spirals of shells, the hexagonal structures of honeycombs, and the like, is not only the most efficient and aesthetic, but also the most beneficial.  And this, in point, serves as a testament that creation is designed by a divine, supremely efficient, ineffably beautiful, and magnanimously beneficent Creator.

In “Geometry of Creation,” adds his own thought to the thinkers and creatives who have pondered the sacred order of creation – such as Plato, Leonardo da Vinci, Johannes Kepler, and countless others – to create a body of work in figurative sculpture and abstract painting which follow the principles and proportions that govern nature. Using mostly modern materials like resin, texturizing media, and acrylic and special optical paints with traditional media like oil, the artist expresses a contemporary take on some of the most ancient and profound thoughts that humanity has considered.  He informs these not only with intellectual rigor but with emotion and his spirituality evoking feeling, resonance, and even awe, from those who view his works in earnest.

With over 20 well-received solo exhibitions in his over 30-year artistic career, Carlo Magno has excelled in hyperrealism and abstraction in both painting and sculpture.  Magno’s career started at the tail-end of the Modernist era of Philippine art. Starting out as a Architecture undergraduate at the Mapua Institute of Technology, in 1976 Magno shifted to the Fine Arts program of the Philippine Women’s University.  Since then, has had numerous sold out solo exhibitions, not only in the Philippines but also in other countries like Singapore.

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

The idea of geometry of creation comes from the natural ratios and proportions naturally occur in nature. And as random and chaotic nature often seems to be, a closer look will show you that nature follows a certain natural order by which everything arranges itself, such as how the molecules of salt naturally form itself into crystalline clusters or how a bees honeycomb will always be perfectly hexagonal. More often than not how nature is geometrically programmed to arrange itself also happens to be the most aesthetic, beneficial and efficient arrangement. This has always fascinated me and to me serves as a testament that all of creation was done by design, by a Creator. And by replicating the natural order, ratios and proportions found in nature we ourselves will be able to create a reflection of the natural raw beauty of creation.