Bespectacled and soft-spoken, university professor, archaeologist and accomplished artist Noell El Farol proves once again why he has received so many accolades and awards over the years. In his latest solo exhibition, Grounded, at Galleria Duemila, serigraph prints, process-based drawings, and handmade paper sculptures present a survey of visual investigations that underscore the interrelation between the artist, his medium, and gravity – that great force that keeps all of us grounded and rooted firmly on this earth.
El Farol, Noell – 2015, serigraph on archival paper, 106.68 x 76.10 cm. / 42 x 30.75 in. (each)
With no fixed visual scheme, El Farol attempts to fossilize chance directional impressions which provide insight into his deliberate choices, the incidental, and the way he materialized his art.
El Farol, Noell – 2014, pulp, cotton cord, 24.13 x 22.22 cm
In Grounded, printmaking becomes a tool for the artist’s abstractions as seen in Contexts and Settings, a series of dynamic serigraphs that looms with seemingly accidental multicolored figurations. Flirting with pop art, the compositions belie an unbridled humor as seen in comical insect and splatter hot prints in a bevy of colors.
El Farol, Noell – 2014, serigraph on paper, 54.00 x 78.50 cm. / 21.28 x 30.93 in.
The charcoal, graphite and pastel drawings reveal El Farol’s academic background and training as an archaeologist; threading the line between plush and minimal, but certainly rustic and fertile-looking like the Earth’s rich topography as seen in various nondescript contours – all of which conjure a feeling of surreal industrial decay that come in several variations with tinges of gold, purple, and red – perpetuating the notion that indeed, there is beauty in deterioration.
El Farol, Noell – 2014, pulp, dye, 20.32 x 22.88 cm
While his handmade paper sculptures showcase a myriad of shapes and texturized features, El Farol’s latest suite of works pushes forward that creative prospects in the domain of the natural world may lead to the most exhilarating and mercurial ideas, in both visual and conceptual dislocations between two and three-dimensional structures.
El Farol, Noell – 2015, serigraph on archival paper,
30.75 x 21 in
El Farol, Noell – 2015, pulp, cotton cord, dye,
39.37 x 25.4 cm
Educated in the Philippines and Japan, Farol has been the recipient of various accolades that include Metrobank’s Prize for Achievement in Sculpture in; Metrobank Foundation’s award for Continuing Excellence and Service; the Grand Prize printmaking Category, Art Association of the Philippines National Open Art Competition; and the Philippine Association of Printmakers’ Print Competition. Currently, El Farol is the president of the Philippine Association of Printmakers (PAP) and MADE-NOW, an alumni organization of former winners of Metrobank Art & Design Excellence competitions.
Grounded will run from October 10-31, 2015 at Galleria Duemila, 210 Loring St., Pasay City. For more information, visit www.galleriaduemila.com