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Thursday, March 28, 2024

The power of four (female artists)

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Have numerologists truly favored the number four? Sure, there is a lucky seven, and an ominous 13, and three (a love triangle?) is rife with tension and competition. But undeniably the arts and music have found a cohesive and convivial character in the number four. 

The power of four (female artists)
'The Beginning' by Jo Uygongco

Witness alone the changing of the weather in a yearly sequence of seasons: winter, spring, summer, autumn or fall. Not only the climate but classical music has bequeathed to us Antonio Vivaldi’s sparkling Four Seasons. And who better to render this music but a string quartet composed of two violinists, a cellist, and a viola player?

The power of four (female artists)
'Tree of Gold' by Eileen Escueta

And then there are the four temperaments which are dimensions of human behavior. To wit: Sanguine (lively, optimistic, buoyant); Phlegmatic (people person, loyal spouse); Choleric (goal-oriented, analytical, logical), and Melancholic (loves tradition, does not seek novelty or adventure)

The power of four (female artists)
'Convergence' by Jo Uygongco

And yet—interestingly—“Quattro” can tantalize us into analyzing the personalities of the artworks by the four participating artists, namely Eileen Bondoc-Escueta, Irma Lara, Minda Ventanilla, and Jo Uygongco. Indeed, it is a line from their Artist Statement which triggered this provocative analysis: “The time has come for this band of different personalities to showcase their newfound passion.” 

The power of four (female artists)
'Friendship' by Irma Lara

By virtue of having launched the Artists Studio based in Fullybooked in Greenbelt, Bondoc-Escueta has perforce become the group’s rallying and inspirational figure. She had conceived “Quattro” as an all-women quartet of artists brought together “by fate or accident” into one happy blend of harmonious art-making. And now, bear in mind that artists too have mixed temperaments, perhaps part serene and part assertive, part intuitive and part analytic. We can see how their works evoke the subtle strains of their individual sensibilities, and in what ways their works may unconsciously intersect and connect.

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The power of four (female artists)
'Dapit Hapon sa Nasugbu' by Irma Lara

For Bondoc-Escueta, watercolor has ever been the medium of favor and choice. Conducive is the gentle handling of her brushstroke which coaxes to come to light her images of delightful koi fish. But regard how the fierce look of an eagle can be mollified into a wizened stare by the sheer delicacy of pigments thinning into shadows. A foliage of jasmine blossoms seems to twinkle from the undergrowth; a burnished cluster of coconuts is imperiously perched atop an unreachable tree.

The power of four (female artists)
'Joy Luck Club' by Eileen Escueta

Lara shares Bondoc-Escueta’s fascination with the sensuously gliding koi. She favors, however, a more expressionist handling of the brush, where the physicality of the pigments is manifest, almost as if she were animating the forms into life. An element of fantasy, however, graces her works, notably where a woman’s comely face is made more alive in the presence of orchid blooms. The stillness of a sunset is equally a vivid experience for Lara. 

The power of four (female artists)
'In The Garden' by Minda Ventanilla`

Indeed, a sunset, too, is an inevitable presence in the works of Ventanilla. This time, however, serenity has given way to a blazing fervor, as if her skies were on fire. Her floral blooms, too, are in searing red, applied in impastos that set the work in tension against the delicacy of the flowers. Yet, Ventanilla can surprise with a soft-focus, almost mistily evanescent hibiscus bloom, where the passionate reds recede into the shyest shades of pinks.

The power of four (female artists)
'Twin Peaks' by Minda Ventanilla

While the floral images are distinctly representational, Uygongco opts for a more abstract rendition of her works. Her lone orchid seems like a brief foray but still it is a marvel of marbling effects. Most of her works partake of this marbling technique, allowing the slowly coagulating pigments to merge into the most lava-like blending of colors. The pace is slow, flowing, meandering, as if seeking its own final destination, and stops fairly short of dominating the space. 

Hence, “Quattro” is a performance and a projection of four women’s passion for art, which no matter how late the calling, is more than just an act of making up for lost time, engendering regret and guilt. Did they discover art, or is it the other way around? 

Like the four seasons and the four temperaments, these four women artists—Eileen, Irma, Minda, and Jo—have had the good fortune of an ideal kinship, of finding the right time and place for the maturation of their selves and spirits.

Quattro is group exhibition of Eileen Bondoc-Escueta, Irma Lara, Minda Ventanilla, and Jo Uygongco ongoing until Oct. 17 at ArtistSpace, Ayala Museum in Makati.

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