Ramon Orlina’s ‘Visions in Glass’ bares all

The well-lived life of pioneering and prolific glass sculptor Ramon Orlina has been extensively chronicled — no minute aspect of his existence remains unwritten. Yet with the much-anticipated release of Ramon Orlina: Visions in Glass, there remains a compelling reason to leisurely walk through that past once again.

The hefty coffee-table volume was one tome I simply could never read in bed, for it spans 57 chapters and 572 pages. Authored by respected art critic, curator and cultural historian Cid Reyes, it is less a biography than a procession of parades on a gentleman who has successfully and artistically shaped one of the most unforgiving materials into lyrical masterpieces — cool, luminous, and seemingly suspended between solidity and light —which have long occupied cathedrals and churches, museums and galleries, universities and academies, hotels and resorts, several private collections in heritage castles, heirloom manor houses, and inherited mansions.

The observant Reyes, whose voluminous writings have authentically documented the unfolding evolution of Philippine visual arts, understands Orlina’s story is on innovation.

“I first study the shape of each piece of glass (cullet) for its natural shape,” Orlina says in the book. “I have to view it from all eight angles. The sculpture must look good on all sides… and the inside, too!” he continued.

The confident statement alone celebrates the artist and his vision.

Orlina initially did not dwell on glass. Art, he was told, meant poverty, so he pursued architecture instead at the University of Santo Tomas.

Orlina worked for architect Carlos Arguelles before opening his own practice with fellow architect Fedore Yap. They designed homes in Dasmariñas Village, Merville Park, within Makati and Greenhills. It was a promising partnership.

Then came Martial Law. Clients pulled out. Projects stopped. And the architectural practice collapsed. It was a professional and personal crisis! The book recalls the frustrations of those years, the sleepless nights, and the utter helplessness of knowing one had creative energy but nowhere to channel it.

The answer came from a material he had always used in architecture — glass.

His 1975 exhibition, Reflections, was his first one-man show of paintings on glass. It sold exceptionally well. However, more importantly, it led him to Victor Lim, chief executive officer of Republic Glass Corporation.

The executive offered him a scholarship abroad. Surprisingly, Orlina declined! Instead, he requested access to the factory.

“What I want to know about glass, I can only learn if you let me inside your factory.” This arrangement changed Philippine sculpture as we know it today.

He soon discovered the cullet — leftover industrial glass from the manufacturing process. Most saw waste. Orlina saw possibility. There was no local tradition of monumental glass sculpture to follow. He needed to build the path himself.

National Artist Napoleon V. Abueva would later say: “I can do anything in sculpture with whatever material… except one — glass. For that, you have to go to Ramon Orlina.” This may be the most concise summary of his place in Philippine art.

Over the decades, Orlina masterfully transformed glass from decorative objects into a sculptural medium. His works have captured major public spaces, such as the National Museum of the Philippines and the University of Santo Tomas Quadricentennial Plaza. His commissions have also reached foreign shores, including the Singapore Art Museum.

His sculptures often depict motion — spiritual ascent, mother and child, lovers, mountain forms — without any literal representation. They depend on the refraction of light as much as the medium. “With glass, I am not only making sculptures in the round,” he writes, “but sculpture inside the round.”

The inner dimension has since become his trademark.

Then there are the cars. For the maestro, even vehicles are sculptures in motion.

Few know that Orlina’s love affair with design extends to vintage automobiles, especially the Volkswagen Beetle. He restored and transformed them with the same meticulous imagination he brings to sculpture. His white stretched Beetle limousine became the first “Limousine Bug” in the country. His black Super Beetle limo won Best of Show at a Transport Sport Show Cup. Another Beetle became Sabel sa Beetle, painted by National Artist Benedicto Cabrera with his iconic muse. A Volvo 780 Bertone was transformed into a rolling homage to Piet Mondrian.

Outside the studio, Orlina gave birth to Museo Orlina in the City of Tagaytay, now one of Southern Luzon’s cultural destinations. More than a museum, it serves as an extension of his philosophy: art should be seen up close, not from a distance.

His sense of responsibility extends beyond just creation. He fought to protect the historic Taal Basilica, taking legal action over an intrusive construction that threatened the integrity of the heritage site.

At 82, Orlina, who shows no signs of retirement, continues to exhibit his new works. The material remains the same, but the tradition continues.

Both children, Anna and Michael, studied at the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde. Anna earned her degree in Multimedia Arts and pursued further studies in glass abroad, including at Pilchuck Glass School in Washington State and the Corning Museum of Glass in New York. An artist, curator and director, she shapes exhibitions and promotes younger artists.

Michael, the family’s only son, took up Arts Management and later apprenticed under the man who started it all — his father — could you ask for more? He balances art-making with museum work and cultural administration, as he, together with his siblings, carries with pride the Orlina legacy into another generation.

Perhaps that is why Ramon Orlina: Visions in Glass matters. Not because it reveals a hidden Ramon Orlina, but because it is a tome of knowledge of a material that was not in the public sphere before he entered the scene. Though much has already been said about his style, he keeps a view on glass from all angles — in search for his latest obra.