RETURN TO NATURE

Eddie Santilan
Solo Exhibition
11 May 2022

Eddie Santillan, who is having a solo exhibition at Arte Bettina, titled “Return to Nature,” lucked into a subject that is a mine of symbolic resonances. When he lit upon the idea of a mountain as a central visual image, he struck gold, in a manner of speaking. The show’s title is therefore appropriate, for it has been said that mountains are the beginning and the end of all-natural scenery.

Moreover, the mountain, often awe-inspiring, is regarded in almost all regions of the earth as a sacred site. Its distinguishing features – steep and sloping sides, sharp ridges, and its shape rising to a high point we call peak or summit – separate it from the surrounding valleys and plateaus. The mountain peak is richly symbolic, being closest to the heavens.