©Wawi Navarroza, Pastorale (Island Girl Scenic Picnic/Unreal Estates Nº1), 2009, 30×45 inches. Courtesy of the artist & Silverlens Gallery.  photograph /archival Lambda Durst print.

Art imitating life…imitating art.  The thing I have always loved about art is how it is reflective of the moment in which it was created.  Art should be alive and evolving, like language.  And like fashion, it should be current and relevant to the times.  Love it or hate it, art takes us on a journey, and unlike people who view art as an investment or a passkey into polite society, I see art as a window into our collective psyche, a peephole into the parts of ourselves that we usually ignore.  Art holds up a mirror to our current state and forces us to ask questions…and sometimes forces us to answer them.  We may not be able to wear it or sling it over our arm, but art has the power to fashion the way we see ourselves and the world at large.  And the best part is, we don’t even have to buy art to appreciate it.

Although, that said, it certainly wouldn’t hurt to buy the pieces that we fall in love with!  (Like the photograph of Wawi Navarroza below–LOVE!!!) In a dialogue with the late Fernando Amorsolo’s work, Wawi’s photograph is a contemporary reply to a vision of Filipinas past, painting with light & shadow what Fernando Amorsolo captured with oil & paint.  The mediums may vary, the views may differ, but in the end, the ever-changing nature of art is what will always remain constant.

©Wawi Navarroza, Pastorale (Island Girl Scenic Picnic/Unreal Estates Nº1), 2009, 30×45 inches. Courtesy of the artist & Silverlens Gallery.  photograph /archival Lambda Durst print.

This piece was shown in Manila Contemporary gallery for “BAYANI NI NANDING VS. THE POST MODERN WORLD” a response to the life and works of Fernando Amorsolo, January 2009.

The contemporary Filipina girl wears Terno  by Tippi Ocampo and an exposed heart sculpture made by the artist Noli Coronado specially for this photograph.
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Fernando Amorsolo, “Fruit Gatherer”, 1950.  Oil on artist’s board.
“Amorsolo is best known for his illuminated landscapes, which often portrayed traditional Filipino customs, culture, fiestas and occupations. His pastoral works presented ‘an imagined sense of nationhood in counterpoint to American colonial rule’ and were important to the formation of Filipino national identity.”- Wikipedia

 

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