MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Fashion Interiors by Paul Cornelissen, located along Chino Roces in Makati, promotes quality lifestyle through carefully designed and hand-crafted furniture, brought together by an ingenious team of designers and artisans. On January 14, the space will officially open “Voices,” an art exhibit that celebrates the different ways of expressing emotions and intellect on canvas. “Voices” will feature works from Tony Alcasid, Pia Benitez –Yupangco, and RM de Leon.
Tony Alcasid
One hears Handel’s Messiah upon seeing Tony Alcasid’s works. Art and act of faith on canvas. He states that it is a continuation of his Illumination series. Thus called as he begins his practice in silence, in prayer, and in meditation.
The grid series is a visual semi-autobiography and reflection of his cultural heritage and influences. The form of the cross and ode to man is distinct. The first man Adam, Cary Grant, an Ilustrado, King George IV, Jesus Christ both as an infant and man, all share this space. A discourse on the roles men play as God or the image they are forced to play. This conversation continues into the next grid with an homage to the role of women who have deeply impacted Tony’s sense and sensibility. Birheng Maria, Diana Ross, the first woman Eve, Audrey Hepburn, Queen Elizabeth, and an Ilustrada, mandalas, and flowers bring together the images and symbols of the divine feminine. His love and passion for his cultural heritage are prominent with the presence of the distinct Burdang Taal (Taal embroidery) patterns, and Taal volcano.
The individual meditation series show Christian iconic images of a dove, the ark of the covenant, the Sacred Heart of Christ, Basquiat crown to represent Christ the King hovering over the battle between light and darkness. Prayer and biblical passages scribbled in the haze of light, almost an allegory of hearing voices from above. One can almost imagine the artist in a transcendental state as he delves into his paintings.
Pia Benitez –Yupangco
Beethoven’s Ode to Joy is the music viewers may see with the abstract optical grabbing series by Pia Benitez –Yupangco. She continues her fascination with spheres into this next exhibit with more fluidity and freer forms. She has managed to bring everyone into her quantum and molecular world with her deliberative process and precision in technical pen and ink, and 2D paper art. Multi-colored and gradient paper strips all collide in a beautiful dance and visual rhythm. How strips of paper, even seemingly insignificant find their place and belong there is a puzzle. It is reminiscent of Rorschach inkblot images only more elegant and vibrant.
Her background in visual communication and print media features strongly in each artwork. A throwback into analog graphic design with the myriad influences harking to the likes of graphic artist Dan Resinger, Memphis, and Post Modern style, and the abstract Japanese art of the seventies to the eighties come to mind.
RM de Leon
Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song is how RM de Leon’s art plays out. It is confrontational, brash, and bold. It spares no punches, yet it is playful and tickles the mind too. It has a manic and pervasive chaos of emotions strewn and etched on each work. Local and international pop culture collages and bold scribbles interplay in the same field. A Pop Art Abstractionist reminiscent of 20th-century American Pop artists Robert Rauschenberg and Richard Hamilton.
The congruity of their works lies in their inner worlds reflected onto canvas or sheet of paper. You have the brash, the benevolent, and the beautiful in one show yet with one message. Light will prevail over darkness.
