ADDIE CUKINGNAN LEADS THE ART CHARGE FOR BANAUE CLINIC

With 30 years of professional experience, self-taught artist Addie Cukingnan has evolved into a master of oriental landscapes, flora and fauna, still lifes and figures akin to Chinese painting.

- By ALMA CRUZ MICLAT

Addie Cukingnan's solo show at Galeria Francesca Ronnie Lim's donation to GNCH Addie's "The Scent of Magnolias"

Yet, instead of using the classic traditional Chinese style of brush-and-ink on silk or paper, Addie uses mostly oil and acrylic, employing western techniques like chiaroscuro. This is evident in her masterful paintings of huge porcelain or ceramic jars, distinguished by the superb sheen of reflected light rendering them almost three-dimensional on the canvas, made even more exquisite with details of dragons, birds and flowers.

Those paintings are highlighted by the artist's favorite subject, magnolias, part of Addie’s 21st solo art exhibit titled “The Scent of Magnolias” presented at the Galerie Francesca, SM Megamall, until Nov. 23. Her dainty, pristine magnolias come alive, more elegant and sensuous against the shimmering jars. The blooms remind her of her mother, cutting fresh flower buds at their Baguio home, recalling Haruki Murakami’s line: “In the pale evening gloom, when the soft fragrance of magnolias hung in the air, my heart would swell without warning.”

Addie’s technique is reminiscent of Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) female artists Yun Bing and Ma Quan. Like the two Chinese artists from upper-class families, Addie (whose father is of Chinese ancestry and mother pure Filipino) excelled at painting flowers, birds, butterflies and dragonflies. Self-taught, she keeps a regular schedule of painting in her bucolic mountain abode in Tanay.