ARKIV VILMANSA ONE MAN SHOW IN MANILA!

Let's end the year with a bang! Our favorite Indonesian artist Arkiv Vilmansa will make waves again this December as he relives his memories of the Philippines through his art.

RELICS, his second Philippine one-man show will open on December 16, 2011 at Vinyl on Vinyl gallery. With his consequent shows in Los Angeles, Indonesia and Singapore, there's no stopping Vilmansa from filling the world with the fluidity of his colorful iconic characters.

Arkiv Vilmansa is based in Bandung, Indonesia, where he received formal training as an architect and graphic designer. Initially gaining international recognition with his vinyl toys, Vilmansa then began painting with acrylic on canvas that have now become his main media.

Since 2008, Vilmansa has consistently exhibited his works in group and solo shows, receiving critical acclaim from the global art world.

"RELICS"

"This exhibition marks the artist exploring the felt abstraction of memory, trying to capture the spirit of the Phillipines as he remembers it, rather than representing it figuratively. These works communicate the retained fragments of times past, that are now returning - as relics to the present. Memory is inaccurate and prejudiced, but theybestow depth to experiences and make them unique. These paintings do not directly show us coastal lines, palm trees and the turquoise sea of the tropics, but the experience of these phenomena as they are preserved in the artistís memory. His unique, curvaceous lines and luscious colours dance elegantly on these canvases as if to a graceful rythm. A rhythm we cannot hear, but feel. Memory is a wild terrain, where one could so easily lose their way.

This exhibition marks Vilmansa's way of taming the wilderness, to make sense of his memories, in order to share that experience with others."

Mitha Budhyarto

To see more of Arkiv's art, visit www.arkivart.com .

RELICS Exhibit event page HERE .

RAMONA IN THE DETAILS (October 8, 2011)

Queen Bee, Medusa, Mother, Lover

Ramona Dela Cruz-Gaston’s painted mandalas are kaleidoscope-like tessellations that swirl with radiant colors. In her first solo exhibition, the artist meditates on the drama of womanhood and the journey from maiden to mother.

She navigates the technical difficulties of the mandala, a form of sacred art, and organizes her personal iconography into hypnotizing geometric designs. Her meticulous canvases swim with symbols, bounded always by the strict symmetry she imposes on herself. The mandala is her way of taking control and making sense out of chaos.

Influenced by Art Nouveau, an architectural movement inspired by organic forms and curved lines, Dela Cruz-Gaston’s signature is unapologetically feminine and emotional. Also leaving indelible marks on her practice are Frida Kahlo, a bold and fiery personality known for her self-portraits, and Patrick Woodroffe, beloved by science-fiction readers for his dreamlike book cover paintings. Combined, these forces have contributed to the vivid rendering of Dela Cruz-Gaston’s surreal canvases.

Ramona in the Details, as her first solo exhibition is titled, is autobiographical but never obvious. Her narrative art covers the past four years and the roles she has had to play: lover, wife, mother, artist. Her achievements as a painter build on her draftsmanship, as demonstrated by graphite-on-paper works also on exhibit.

An accompanying book, also titled Ramona in the Details, is a diary of sorts that ruminates on her beginnings as an artist and the stories behind her work. Her obsessions with miniature toys and animals, deaths and miscarriages, experimentations with various media (among them her own blood) are documented in a frank account of her life.

While Dela Cruz-Gaston’s paintings are not self-portraits, they remain personal, intimate, and, if read properly, revealing. Dela Cruz-Gaston could be channeling Kahlo, who once said: I’ll paint myself because I am the subject I know best. ll

Ramona in the Details opening reception is on October 8, 2011 730pm at Vinyl on Vinyl Gallery at The Collective 7274 Malugay St Makati.

To see her artworks on display click HERE .

To see event pictures click HERE.