Ed Lantin strips his subjects down to their inner light

Artist Edgardo “Ed” Lantin, who migrated to Vancouver in 1981 and built much of his career here through large portraits, starting with one of former President Corazon Aquino displayed at the Malacañang Palace Museum, reveals a different side in the show “Flesh and Form” now at The Crucible Gallery. His remarkable nudes show decades of expertise, from New York to Canada, and careful choices in every flesh tone and shaft of light.

Lantin eschews working from photographs, saying you can only capture the reality of the light and shade in person. (Though he did have to rely on many videos and photos to paint former president Noynoy Aquino III.) A UST arts graduate, he claims he only got serious about painting in his 30s under the mentorship of artist Sofronio Y. Mendoza.

We get into a quick impromptu discussion about his flesh tones, and the artist points out to me the attention to “ascending and descending planes” on the faces, where he chooses to highlight and where he reduces to darkness. He’s a big fan of Diego Velàsquez and “selective attention,” the technique of emphasizing certain features in the canvas and drawing focus through subtle chiaroscuro and blurring effects. It’s masterful.

Lantin visits here about four months a year, usually after New Year, and this is a follow-up to his 2024 Crucible Gallery show “Interior Series.” That one ventured into remarkable set pieces, detailed tableaux of, say, the Manila Peninsula lobby, or Antonio’s restaurant. While it is impossible to sit with an easel at Antonio’s and expect diners and time to stand still, Lantin manages to capture the vivid feel of life unreeling before your eyes like a Scorsese restaurant scene.

I ask about the difference between portraits and nude studies; he says what’s most important to him with portraits is not to “repeat the composition,” so he pays careful attention to the placement of objects with the subject, looking for the certain item that will subtly reveal their character or inner being. There’s no cookie-cutter approach to capturing this reality.

With his nudes, it’s a more meditative attention to movement: his placement of light makes you feel as though the subject is subtly shifting, then resting in a pose. Lantin credits this to careful attention to reflective light, even in the darkest portions of the figure. And that’s a truth that takes decades to uncover.