While painting this show, I was thinking a lot about life cycles. A trees drops their leaves and then grows leaves anew, the petals of an echinacea flower wither away while its central cone seed and becomes flowers for the next season, the remnants of clay from the ceramic studio is made into clay again. Here in the tropics, days seem like equinoxes, a different repetitive cycle for me. How do we move through the seasons, the months, the days with presence, living each day with grace and with dignity? How do we honour nature and the people we care for?
My recent laser-carved cardboard paintings are taken from art history and landscapes that I’m familiar with. Inspired by Symbolism and Romanticism in art, especially the late works of Hidalgo, I was seeking to create an emotional response to the pastoral landscapes I was painting. The cardboard paintings came out of drawing en plein-air at an artist’s residency last summer, located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I continued these sketches, developing the drawings into watercolour paintings, and then translating that into computer files. Through a series of laser light pulses, I carve the image onto cardboard, a material that alludes to the ubiquitous symbol of the Philippine diaspora, the Balikbayan box.
I started working in clay a couple years ago. Inspired by anitu sculptures, I wanted to create a female form that evoked power, resistance, and rest in its gesture. I hand-modeled each sculpture and experimented in creating the ceramic glazes from scratch, using raw materials such as silica, copper carbonate and kaolin. The glazes are layered to create unique drips, volcanic textures and bronze-like saturation.
The watercolour paintings of bouquets continue my playful approach to painting, as I've been painting again since art school. I chose a limited colour palette of ochre, ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson, siena and yellow to create the compositions of echinacea, wildflowers, lilies, and chrysanthemums.
