In Cacnio's hands, watercolor is carried far beyond traditional subjects
of landscapes and still-lifes to folk genre of festivities and traditions,
cockfighting and carabao racing, dances, vendors, or a family's modest
repast. These subjects are seldomly done in the watercolor medium, watercolor
being too fluid, making it difficult to render human figures. But Angel Cacnio takes
up the difficult challenge and succeeded. He sees his creative role as consisting in
in guiding the pigment to flow on its own course and exercising only a light but
precise control. He minimizes brush strokes so as to give full value to the fluid
character of watercolor. In this way, he achieves the desired effect of brilliance,
freshness and luminosity needed to bring out sthe full potential of the medium.
Mastery in the handling of both media is not only what makes him a remarkable
artist but his innate sensitivity to his environment. His compositions mirror
what he percieves as the ungoing matrix of national identity.
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