Olor

If there is one artist who has captured the beauty of the Filipino woman—with her lustrous black hair, kayumanggi complexion, and well-proportioned features—it would have to be Hermes Alegre.

In this series of new works for his solo exhibition, Olor, a Spanish term meaning a whiff or scent, Alegre shows how he loves women through his particular depiction and subjectivity: clear-faced, composed, and in tune with the natural elements of fruits and flowers. His women are immediately recognizable as Alegre women—idealized, certainly, but never remote; beautiful without seeming fragile, and serene without losing their presence.

Much of this allure comes from Alegre’s use of color. His palette is lush but carefully controlled, moving between the warm earthiness of the women to the saturated reds, greens, yellows, and pinks of the natural world. His brushwork, meanwhile, moves between precision and painterly richness, allowing individual details to remain distinct while making the whole image shimmer.

Well positioned amid the luxuriance of nature, the women are not vulnerable. In most of these works, Alegre depicts them in clothes that make them stand out against sunlight-washed skies and extravagant foliage, their figures becoming as much a part of the landscape as the flowers, leaves, and fruits that surround them.

They seem to be modern nymphs or goddesses—the contemporary Maria Makilings—situated in this environment because it is their home: familiar with every hue of flower, every curve of a leaf, every change in the light that falls upon them. Nature does not overwhelm them; rather, it seems to recognize them. The abundance of the landscape becomes an extension of their beauty, while their presence gives the landscape a human warmth.

There is, too, something deliberately romantic in Alegre’s vision. His paintings offer this possibility: the woman as an object of admiration, sensuality, and wonder. He paints women because he finds them beautiful, and he surrounds them with the colors and forms that, to him, make that beauty most visible. Just like scents, Alegre’s women are soft, subtle, and unforgettable. But unlike the scents of the flowers that surround them, they are enduring.