ABOUT CLAUDE


Claude Tayag (born 1956, Angeles City, Philippines) is an accomplished painter, sculptor, furniture designer, a handy chef, food and travel columnist for the Philippine Star.  Tayag is primarily a self-taught artist, taking up architecture and economics courses at the University of the Philippines. He considers his mentor, the late writer/painter Emilio “Abe” Aguilar Cruz as his greatest influence.     He first entered into the Manila art scene in 1978, exhibiting watercolor paintings of Philippine folk festivals, religious images, and cordillera landscapes, works characterized by a forceful spontaneity and raw vigor. Since 1990, he has been venturing into functional and sculptural wood pieces starting with an exhibition “Art Furniture” at the Ayala Museum.

Starting from his first one-man exhibit in 1978, he’s been working in themes. He started out as a painter, working in both watercolor and acrylic on canvas. The theme of this first exhibit was Philippine folk santos, local festivals (in particular Ati-atihan) and landscapes. The succeeding years he went on to explore more in depth these same themes, but each exhibit focusing on a specific subject i.e., Moriones; Kristos; a European watercolor travelogue resulting from an eleven-month trip around Europe in 1979-80; Cordillera landscapes (having lived in Baguio in 1984-85 to do just that); Philippine Folk Festivals in serigraphs and Bokuseki Series in black and white (Japanese ink paintings).

He had my first one-man exhibit in wood “Art Furniture” in 1990 at the Ayala Museum, showing both functional and sculptural creations in wood. Prior to that exhibit, he has been designing and manufacturing traditional Filipino domestic furniture (i.e. lamesa, upuan, taburete, bangkô, paminggalan, to name a few) which he consigned at the Pansol Pottery owned by Jon and Tessie Pettyjohn on Amorsolo Street, Makati City. This phase honed his skills and knowledge working with wood. This early phase in wood, his furniture designs can be characterized as having straightforward functionality and clean lines, much like the Japanese and Shaker furniture (i.e. no-nail construction, using mostly dove-tailing and mortise-and-tenon techniques).

In his sculptural work, four phases can be discerned. The first phase, 1989-91, consisted works based on the wavy form and the plane, some bent askew but mostly layered. His most important innovation is in wood lamination which allowed him to supercede the limitations of an essentially rigid material, achieving limitless volume and sensuous plasticity with this wave and curvilinear series. His sculptural technique consists of an aggregate and carving – rather than a solid and bending process.

The second phase, from 1992-95, saw him utilize wood still as a plastic material, but in a malleable, tubular form. This was an effect of his experimentation with rattan.

The third phase saw him utilizing wood, but exploring the tensile qualities of the material, using it structurally as if it were metal. He used cylindrical lengths of wood, which are joined tongue-and-groove and doweled at sharp angles. The finished pieces can be viewed 360 degrees in the round, and they transcend the traditional spatial relationship between the artifact and the horizon. These sculptures challenge the “ground” in that they invite the viewer to shift axiomatic diagrams in the virtual reality of cyberspace. These works challenge the mind, as the viewer tries to imagine the possible permutations in perspective. That the sculptures are not on a pedestal heightens the effect of momentary rest, of impermanence, of possibilities.

The most recent phase is the Totem Pole Series inspired by Constantin Brâncuși’s Endless Column. Given a square log as a starting point, he was basically exploring the permutations of how a simple curve, whether convex or concave, can create so many different patterns when positioned at intervals on two sides of the square log and then cut through.

Tayag has participated in several one-man and group exhibitions in Manila , Beijing , Washington , DC, and Madrid. His art is part of many private and public collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Bank of Philippine Islands, and PLDT.

 
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exhibitions and Awards

 

1977 Art Association of the Philippines Annual Competition Second Prize  

 

1978 First One-man Exhibition, Watercolor and Acrylic Paintings, ABC Galleries, Manila (December 13-21,1978)

 

1979

  • Three-man Exhibition with E. Aguilar Cruz and Malang Watercolor Landscapes ABC Galleries, Manila (February 27 – March 8, 1979)

  • Travels extensively to Europe for eleven months.

 

1981 One-man Exhibition – Iberian Scenes and Landscapes Watercolor Paintings, ABC Galleries, Manila (March 17-April 11)  

 

1981 – Moriones Unmasked One-man Exhibition, Watercolor Paintings, Galerie Dominique, Mandaluyong City. 

 

1983 – Goes to Spain for six months on a travel grant from the Spanish Embassy in Manila, extensively traveling around Spain observing fiestas.

 

1984 One-man Exhibition – Cordillera Landscapes, Watercolor Paintings Galerie Marguerite, Baguio City.

 

1985 One-man Exhibition – European Sojourn 1979-80, Picture Postcards in Watercolor, Ayala Museum.  

 

1986 One-man Exhibition – Sumi-e Landscapes,  Ayala Museum.  

 

1987

  • Imahen Images of Philippine Folk Santos One-man Exhibition in Watercolor, San Agustin Museum, Intramuros, Manila.

  • Two-man Exhibition with Pacita Abad – International Monetary Fund Atrium, Washington , D.C. , U.S.A.  

 

1988

  • first time to go public with his cooking at Ang Hang Restaurant, Makati City, owned by Larry J. Cruz, aptly called “Art Woks”, showcasing his interpretations of his paintings into edible art. (August 15-28, 1988). This earns him the title “chef” from hereon.

  • Karinderia Series – Serigraphs on canvas Finale Art File, Makati City (September 21 – October 1, 1988). 

  • 1990

  • Black Mountain – Little Theater Lobby Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP Grant Award).

  •  Watercolor Travelogue – One-man Exhibition, Watercolor Travelogue, Lopez Museum (April 4-30,1990).

  • Art Furniture – One-man Exhibition, Functional Wood Sculptures, Ayala Museum (October 3-14, 1990).

 

1991 

  • One-man Exhibition – Black and White Paintings, Brix Gallery, Makati City.

 

1992  Three-man Exhibition with Ben Cabrera and Ofelia Gelvezon-Tequi, Philippine Embassy, Beijing , P.R.O.C.

 

1993  WOOD – One-man Exhibition, Luz Gallery, Makati City.

 

1993 – he was a guest chef at the Manila Hotel for a Chaine des Rotisseurs dinner, highlighting his interpretations of traditional Pampango cuisine.

 

1994  TAYAG FIESTAS – One-man Exhibition, Acrylic Paintings and Serigraphs, Galleria de las Islas, Intramuros, Manila (May 14-30, 1994).

 

1995 One-man Exhibition – Black and White Paintings/ Rattan Sculptures, Luz Gallery, Makati City.

 

1996 Group Exhibition with Filipino and Spanish artists – Madrid, Spain.

 

1997

  • Received a “Guhit Award” in the field of decorative arts from Design and Architecture Magazine.

  • Breaking Boundaries – Group Exhibition, Philippine Stock Exchange Lobby, Ayala Triangle, Makati City.

  • Patterning in Contemporary Art of Australian and Filipino Artists – Group Exhibition, Metropolitan Museum of Manila.

  • WOOD – Sculptures and Furniture in Wood, One-man Exhibition, Art Center, Megamall, Mandaluyong City.

 

1999  Paintings and Sculptures,  One-man Exhibition, Budji Layug Gallery, Makati City.

 

2000 – First time to open his studio/residence Bale Dutung as by-reservations-only restaurant to the public.

 

2001 – he was invited to do a month’s cooking as guest chef at the Prince Albert Rotisserie of the InterConinental Manila, the first Filipino chef ever to be invited, back to back with resident French chef Cyrille Soenen.

 

2003  Homecoming – Three-man exhibition with Bencab and Patis Tesoro, Museo ning Angeles, Angeles City, Pampanga.

 

2005 Group Exhibition – 20th Asian International Art Exhibition, Ayala Museum, Makati City.

 

2005-2010 Opens ABOUT DESIGN, a lifestyle store/gallery, at Greenbelt 3, Makati City.

 

2006 

  • ODE TO PASIG – Group Exhibition, Ayala Museum.

  • “1 + 55: Perspectives on corporate Art Patronage” – Group Exhibition, Metropolitan Museum of Manila.  

  • PERIA – One-man exhibition, Wood Sculptures of Circus Performers. Shangri-La Makati Garden, Makati City.

  • In Light of Luz, Prints/Imprints – Group Exhibition, Cultural Center of the Philippines, Manila.  

  • November 2006 – Launches his first book FOOD TOUR – A Culinary Journal, a compilation of his food and travel essays in the Philippine Star.

 

2007

  • FOOD TOUR won the Best Philippine Culinary Travel Guide in the Madrid-based GOURMAND WORLD COOKBOOK AWARDS 2007.

  • MACAU MAGIC – Watercolor paintings, group exhibition with Bencab, Phyllis Zaballero and Soler Santos, The Podium, Ortigas Center, Mandaluyong City (February 28 – March 7, 2007).

  • PALATE/PALETTE – One-man exhibition of watercolor paintings, Alliance Française Gallery, Makati City (September 6-22, 2012).

 

2008 – he co-authored and food styled the seminal cookbook KULINARYA – A Guidebook to Philippine Cuisine.    

 

2010  Passion of Christ – wood sculptures of the 14 Stations of the Cross, Ayala Museum, Makati City.

 

2011 December 1 – Launching of Linamnam - A Culinary Travel Guide Book, co-authored with wife Mary Ann Quioc.

 

2012  

  • Trianggulo – Three--man sculpture exhibition with Abdulmari Imao and Sajid Imao, Greenbelt 5 Activity Center, Makati City. April 15-27, 2012.

  • Memphis in May Festival,. Guest chef at the Peabody Hotel, Memphis, Tennessee, USA,  highlighting Philippine cuisine. May 7-12, 2012.

 

2013 – Full Circle – One-man exhibition of recent large scale black and white paintings on canvas, commemorating his 35th year since his first one-man exhibition in 1978. Art in the City, BGC, Taguig City. October 10 – November 10, 2013.

  

 

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