Isabel Manalo, Sofia’s Literary Element, 2021-2022, oil on Arches paper, 48 x 60 inchesOpening Reception: Saturday, April 23 from 4pm to 6pm
Rather than the self portrait the artist revealed in her “Adrenaline” series, in these most recent paintings Manalo casts her gaze on her inner circle, her father and daughters, the still lives that are the interior landscapes of her world along with an array of familiar, quotidian objects. The intricate and painterly patterns which make up the many veneers or veils of Manalo’s paintings are punctuated by not only a central subject but scatterings of symbols and expressive brushwork.
“My subjects have always been my sensations, my states of mind and the profound reactions that life has been producing in me…”
-Frida Kahlo.
Aesthetically, this new works looks forward as well as being very conscious of the artistic movements of the late 19th century. Painters like Berthe Morisot and Marie Bracquemond, as well as their male peers like Bonnard, Cézanne, Pissarro, Monet and Vuillard, inform this work even as the artist looks ahead to her children’s generation and a new generation of artists. On display side by side with this new work are a small scale collection of graphic, more two dimensional paintings which will be familiar to fans of the artist’s earlier works.
“I tried to make everything breathe in this painting: faith, quiet suffering, religious and primitive style, and great nature with its scream.”
― Paul Gauguin
The exhibition opens on Saturday, April 23rd and runs through May 28th.
