IT’S a trio of one-artist exhibitions this month at Art Elaan, featuring visual artists Nikko Pelaez, Binong Javier and Faye Pamintuan in their respective new shows.
The exhibitions open today, June 7, and run until June 27.
‘Everything is an Iceberg,’ Nikko Pelaez
THE concept of layers, in a way, serve as a constant theme in the young career of multi-talented artist Nikko Pelaez. There are levels to his signature abstract portraits—characterized by instinctual use of colors to suggest lighting and texture—as well as his artistic talent as a whole.
Pelaez paints, but he also creates films, and has won awards for both. He studied Fine Arts Major in Advertising at the University of the East, where he topped several art contests. As a filmmaker, Pelaez won Best Film and Audience Choice Award at Benilde Annual Guerilla short film competition for his entry, titled Balik Loob. He has two other films, titled Hindi Naman Kailangan and Panagsubli, which were selected by the Gawad CCP para sa Alternatibong Pelikula at Video.
Only in his mid-20s, it is fair to say that the artist from Malabon is just scratching the surface. His artworks, after all, continue to evolve.
Presented in his latest solo exhibition, titled Everything is an Iceberg, is the continued merging of his two distinct styles: his geometric abstractions and intricate sketches. The former deals with dramatic portraits that hail from mosaic beginnings, while the latter involves rich and detailed works, such as Greek gods’ flowing hair and outlines of clouds.
The convergence of these styles is seen in the show’s featured pieces, among which is A Bouyant Hope. Here is a woman, depicted in Pelaez’s abstract portrait, who appears to be asleep, her head tilted and eyes closed. She’s frozen in ice, but her right hand clutches onto a ball of flame, defiant and burning bright.
It’s a painting packed with meaning, and an artwork that shows how far an artist has come. Once more, Pelaez presents layers.
‘G,’ Binong Javier
THE new solo exhibition of pointillist painter Binong Javier, titled G, revolves around gold. The focus is, however, not on the opulence it represents, but rather on the inspiring moral story of its process.
Javier believes we start to discover and recognize our strength when we go through the most difficult moments in our lives—“like gold being tested on fire.”
Born and raised in Caloocan, Javier has had his fair share of ups and downs. He worked overseas as a graphic artist before returning home and pursuing a career in visual arts. Javier explored which artistic style suited him best, ultimately landing on pointillism, a painting technique that started in France in the 19th century.
In this show, Javier showcases his latest series that deal with golden elements. In Destined for Greatness, the artist depicts his metaphor of gold being introduced to intense heat, with the colors of yellow and red wrestling in dramatic gradients, ultimately forging a precious outcome.
Javier reminds us that whatever comes our way, there is always something to be learned, something that we can use to make us stronger.
‘To Be Still,’ Faye Pamintuan
EVERYTHING seems to spin with vicious velocity in times of intense emotions. Visual artist Faye Pamintuan was dealing with heartbreak when she created the artworks for her latest solo exhibition, titled To Be Still.
A magna cum laude graduate from the University of the Philippines Diliman with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting, her works deal with colors in constant movement, melting and molding. Thus, in her pursuit of a pause, she relied on her paintings to “move so [she] could choose to be still.”
“The works started from a simple drawing with an orange horizon, a cave, and hurried marks. This sketch would then become the backbones and rummages of a place of refuge,” Pamintuan writes in her artist’s statement. “In a time of tumultuous emotions, these works gave me the space and time to be still with grief, to be still with anger, to be still with a fleeting joy, to be still in numbness.”
Pamintuan imagined her emotions as forces and energies found in nature. Anger, for example, oozes as an orange magma, forcing itself through the land, as seen in Magma Carries Its Weight Within. Elsewhere is more positive energy, one of renewal, as portrayed in Yellow Bell Suspended Over Water.
More information is available at www.facebook.com/ArtElaanGallery, 027728-6577/7915-9599, via info@artelaan.com or inquiry.artelaan@gmail.com.