Preview talk: Four Women, Four Visions
Preview talk: Four Women, Four Visions
By Cesare A.X. Syjuco
Published in: The Manila Times, September 16, 1987
THE accompanying fanfare promises an ambiance oozing with Old World charm for "RAYAS PINCELADAS," an exhibition featuring four women artists "celebrating a special vision" at the Galeria de las Islas in historic Intramuros. I am sure the organizers of this fund-raiser will manage to conjure something appropriate by the time the show opens tomorrow, but the atmosphere left much to be desired when I dropped by for a "sneak preview" of the works last Sunday.
Climbing three flights of service-stairs through a bombardment of more local handicrafts than I have ever seen in my life couldn't possibly have helped, and I did arrive to the small spectacle of the janitorial service scrubbing the floor. I must say that I have never felt good about reviewing art exhibits before they have been formally inaugurated, precisely because so much of the peripheral trappings that are said to make a difference - such as place-cards, people, and the curator's final touches - have yet to materialize.
While it would be wise, then, to reserve sound judgment on this one pending its unveiling tomorrow, a few candid insights regarding the work might be appropriate at this point - if only to provide material for discussion over cocktails.
For instance, those familiar with the Calado series of Araceli Limcaoco-Dans - introduced for the first time in her major exhibition of paintings at the defunct MOPA some two summers ago - should recognize new potential for her photo-realistic still-lifes in her shift from oils to watercolor. I, for one, have always been vaguely distrustful of that vintage predilection for such incredible imagery as farm-fresh eggs and seashells draped melodramatically with embroidered fabric, but Dans' supple renderings of floppy cardboard boxes should reinforce anyone's belief in her ability to snatch from life, and her many years as a professional artist deserve no less from us than a vote of confidence.
I have secretly hoped for some time now that Christina Garzon's exceptional graphic abilities and manic devotion to detail might someday be trained on something closer to heart and home than Indian cowherds, and in this exhibit, I finally do get my wish. However, her welcome shift in focus to figurations inspired by the Tau-sug of Sulu is not without its setbacks, and Garzon's youthful proficiency with pen and ink might appear somewhat hampered in this series by her preoccupation with the conscious probing of new material.
Remedios Boquiren will probably intrigue viewers with how her well-worked oil paintings could look so patently illustrational. Sharing more than a casual affinity with the works of other genre artists like Tam Austria and Jeff Dizon, her idyllic renderings of local womenfolk are very nearly reverential in treatment, but in this new series at least, aficionados may find that they somehow lack the dynamism, purposefulness and cultural depth of an Anita Ho or a Botong Francisco. Dreamy, sometimes preciously lyrical, Boquiren scratches the surface but not the soul of the mythical Filipina.
Surprisingly enough for an unheralded newcomer, Valeria Cavestany may engage the fancy of more visitors on opening night than the three veterans with whom she appears. This Catalan import marks her debut before local audiences, but what she still obviously lacks in exhibitional experience, originality, and singleness of purpose is more than adequately made up for by the refreshing vitality and candor that almost always sets promising talents apart. If some of Cavestany's works smack of the confectionery and the infantile, blame it on her arbitrary use of paper doilies for compositional borderwork.
To be sure, exhibitions of this sort are always welcome fare, although what "special vision" these four women artists share in common may not be as readily apparent as we might expect. The great thing about "art" is that it is always open to interpretation, and if anything at all, this exhibit should serve to remind us that there are more ways to skin a cat than we are sometimes led to believe. Come to the opening and see if you agree.
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Cesare A.X. Syjuco, “Preview talk: Four Women, Four Visions” (page 1 of 1), The Manila Times, September 16, 1987
