Feliciano Legara IV By John Kenneth E. Ching
Photo by John Niccolo A. Aquino
F
eliciano Legara IV is just like any other artist. He depends on bouts of inspiration to finish an artwork. “There was a time that, like, I’m already holding the brush and I already had the canvas in front of me, I’d decide that, ‘Okay, I will do this next time.’” He paints fast, as he does not have the patience to work on a personal project for extended periods of time, though the importance of a deadline is not lost on him. In any case, Feliciano Legara IV or Fourth, remains to be one of the most talented young artists this city has to offer. His style is inspired by various classical and modern foreign artists. He admires the preference of natural and lighter tones, as well as knowing how a subject would look like in a photo—which he attributes to the fact that women are frequent subjects or models of artworks. He thinks no less of his peers; he only wants to avoid their influence to preserve his own artistic identity. He is a visual person. When looking at a photo or a painting, he notices its visual beauty first and the meaning second. Aesthetics is an integral element in his art. “It could be backed up with a story, it could be backed up with an inspiration, it could be backed up with something na literary or anything else, but aesthetics has to be there. Even as simple as a blank page, pero the choice of color, the choice of texture is good, and it is aesthetically good, it is an artwork.” For him, a true artist is one who knows when his piece is as good as finished. “If you could see your artwork na parang medyo kulang, you won’t stop. You won’t stop unless you see that parang, ‘This is good.’” He believes that when an artist finally decides to finish his work, the artist knows that there will be some who will appreciate it. That’s why when people look at Fourth, they see one of Cagayan de Oro’s top young artists, with a portfolio including countless numbers of photo shoots, murals, and portraits on top of his experiences in journalism and marketing. As much as he is like any other artist, he might be in a class of his own.C
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People Magazine 2015