When Dusk Settles

The dark of night has a habit of uncloaking several things just as much as light does. Certain inhibitions, hesitations, and thoughts otherwise clouded by noise and upkeep of appearances during the day disappear under the comfort of darkness and solitude.

For Anton Mallari, dusk is when his thoughts start to dawn on him more clearly. It signals the commencement of bringing his ideas to life on canvas – a task not devoid of pleasure, as he paints his favorite subjects: the female form, mingled with floral motifs lifted from his natural surroundings in his hometown, Baguio City.

When Dusk Settles is a continuation of his homage to the pure, sheer appreciation of his subjects of choice – but, this time, with undertones of his own frame of mind during the painting process. His soft, pensive portraits are noticeably tinged with the time of night and the zeitgeist surrounding the time when he created them: overcast, relatively subdued, but still with cracks of gilded enthusiasm and sensuality that break through the sludge of existing in and surviving through a strange pandemic and series of global events. Some sub-narratives can be found within this series of works: “Second thoughts” and “A recollection of youth” allude to both the tender and complicated bond between sisters, while “Mapping the moments” represents Mallari’s frustrations and observations of China’s increasingly forceful intrusions on Philippine sovereignty in an attempt to rewrite the maps that validate the scope of our stewardship over our much-coveted natural territory – as well as the sense of identity that comes with rootedness (or lack of) in one’s motherland. His signature period-style portraits are also present in this collection, showing an artist’s savoring of the liberty that comes with coloring outside the lines to reimagine timelines and styles attached to specific eras.

When dusk settles, the night beckons. Mallari accepts the invitation and takes it as a nudge to explore the more uncharted corners of his mind.

-Nikki Ignacio