Geraldine Javier is widely known in Southeast
Asia and beyond as a master of the uncanny and the strangely
disturbing. Her exquisite and masterful paintings play on the allure and beauty
of a darker side of experience. Over the years, the artist’s paintings have
become increasingly layered and complex, not only in content and imagery but
also through physical textures, as she began incorporating 3-dimensional craft-based
elements in her canvases. Looking back, works such as Mother and Child (2007) –
where a portrait of a Luzon Bleeding-Heart Pigeon framed in silver was set
against the heavy backdrop of a woman's dress; and Arrangement in Grey and
Black (2008) – metallic plates adorned with pretty patterns and images of
seashells, beetles, and a singing blackbird are “hung” in the painted
background, are among early evidences that displayed this tendency.
Since then, it would not be unusual to find framed insects
and embroidered images of flora and fauna embedded in Ms. Javier’s canvas, or
strands of tatting concealing painted images like foliage in the woods.
Straddling the 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional realm, her works would develop
further and take on interesting 3-dimensional turns as exemplified in recent
solo exhibitions: Always Wild, Still Wild (2011) in Manila and later, Museum of
Many Things (2011) in Singapore. In Manila , the
artist presented a “hammock” installation The Tree in Me (2011) made from
tatting and an embroidered self-portrait as the centrepiece of her show, while
3-d objects and vitrines became the highlight in Singapore
RED FIGHTS BACK by Geraldine Javier opens on 28 June 2012
simultaneously with SKYSCAPES by Jay Yao (Jose Campos III) and SKINSKIN by
Chati Coronel. All shows run until 21 July 2012 at Silverlens at 2/F YMC Bldg.,
II, 2320 Pasong Tamo Ext., Makati
Gallery hours are Monday to Friday from 10am to 7pm and
Saturdays from 1 to 6pm. www.silverlensgalleries.com /
facebook.com/slgalleries
Adeline Ooi in conversation with Geraldine Javier; Image:
Geraldine Javier, Work in Progress, 2012
No comments:
Post a Comment