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Halimuyak Series VI signed and dated 2018 (lower right) oil on canvas 48" x 72" (122 cm x 183 cm) PROVENANCE: Blanc Gallery, Quezon City Love has also been at the heart of a number of philosophical inquiries. Dating back to antiquity, the question of love has eluded even the most enlightened thinkers. For Plato, love is a longing for the eternal and a desire for beauty and truth. He argued that love is a spiritual and intellectual pursuit that aims at transcending the physical world and attaining a higher form of love and understanding. Meanwhile Aristotle posited that love is a mutual and virtuous relationship between two individuals. He emphasized the importance of friendship, companionship, and shared values as the foundation of love. According to Aristotle, love involves a deep connection based on respect, trust, and the pursuit of common goals. But thousands of years later, we are still dumbfounded about its true nature. Perhaps our lack of understanding is not a lack of knowledge per se, but rather a matter of merely looking at only a small part of a bigger whole. Perhaps the true nature of love can only be understood and expressed not only through written and verbal language, but also through the visual as well. Anton Mallari’s Halimuyak series examines the nature of love through a number of specific scenes that are both distinct yet universal. In it, Mallari’s scenes explore themes and gestures of intimacy that elevate them to the phenomenological and the sensual. Though an understanding of love has yet to fully reveal itself to us, what Mallari offers us is assurance. That love, no matter how grand, exists even in the smallest of spaces. (J.D.)