Mag:net Gallery ABS

 

Deep Stretch
Christina Dy, Geraldine Javier, Lyra Garcellano
September 5 – 30, 2006
Mag:net Gallery ABS

Opening on the 5th of September at the Mag:net Gallery at ABS-CBN is Deep Stretch, an exhibit by Christina Dy, Geraldine Javier and Lyra Garcellano featuring their recent forays into seeming formalist concerns of various representations often gleaned for their surface values but carry with it their own psychological and social  weight. Javier's project of cushion-dolls intricately embroidered with their corresponding costumes were accomplished for sheer enjoyment as much as the craft itself is commonly touted for its being a craft for "well-mannered ladies", underscores as well the usual  societal connotations of each doll's costumes and of the practice itself of embroidery. Whereas Dy's large-scale charcoal drawings of hands running through hair but are so magnified as they resemble blades of grass, are either subtexts for innuendos or mannerisms of vain fetish. These are moreover pronounced when looked from her past paintings of cropped androgynous body parts lying fashionably languid but are
seemingly leadened by perverse covetousness. On the other hand, Garcellano's oil paintings of man-made catastrophes and explosions revels not so much on the causes of such which are often wrought from careless miscalculations, but do rather magnify the profound poignancy often rivaling that which naturally ravages earth's terrain through earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. These paintings are somewhat a continuation from "Artificial Landscapes",  a series she has exhibited last year at CCP.

All three have been part of the now-defunct artist-run space Surrounded By Water.

Javier holding dual degrees in Nursing and Fine Arts and a recipient of CCP 13 Artist Awards, is usually known for her impeccable paintings with film-noir like scenarios and of bodies transcending their tragic ends.

Dy besides teaching art at the Ateneo University also works as a production designer for films, commercials and music videos and has recently won citations for such work for the internationally acclaimed "Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros" and for other numerous music videos.

Garcellano, this year's recipient of CCP 13 Artist Awards, does part
time work teaching art to high school students and doing illustrations for various publications and for Phil. Daily Inquirer, foremost of which is her serialized comic strip Atomo and Weboy.

Deep Stretch will have its opening cocktails at 6:30 PM on September 5.

The exhibit will be on view until September 30. Mag:net Gallery ABS is at The Loop, ELJ Center, ABS-CBN compound, Mother Ignacia Avenue corner Eugenio Lopez St. QC. For details please
call 4100995 or email magnetplus@gmail.com or visit magnet.com.ph