“ANOTHER DAY”
Waking up every day is a blessing, and knowing that we have survived another day is something to be thankful for. In this life nothing is permanent and change is inevitable. Life throws us a curveball and most of the time we are not ready, but we humans always cope and survive, because having each other is enough reason for us to face another day.
In this exhibition, Marilou Solano and Reen Barrera’s works depict their personal day to day experience of what’s it like to be living in this current situation, and how they handle living in the new norm.
Marilou Solanoa
Marilou attended college studying Fine arts in FEATI University, Manila. Her first solo show at Village Art Gallery entitled “Dwellers’. She has been a finalist during the 43rd Shell National Students Art Competition (NSAC).
Solano’s stories in most of her paintings were from childhood memories and a recollections of recent events in life.
An art piece that encourages us to dream and refresh our memories, to reconnect with past and experience the magical feeling of our own fancy imagination and brings you into boundaries.
Movies, series and music are frequent sources of her inspirations. Exploring different kinds of medium allows her to express most of her ideas.
Reen Barrera
Born in Paris, France, in 1990, Reen Barrera as a kid doesn’t have a lot of toys growing up, he vaguely remembers owning two or three pieces of action figures, he consider himself as a “toy deprived kid”. Bored of doing nothing at home, he started making his own toys using found objects, not knowing that he is starting to become an artist.
He took art classes in high school and attended college studying Fine arts majoring in Advertising. Before becoming a full-time artist in 2014, his professional work consisted of sculpting bobble head portraits, graphic design and illustrations.
In some artworks, he discreetly takes on socio economic classes. Some people are born rich, mid class, some are poor. But the common ground is, everybody will have no choice but to deal with it. So he covers all their heads with a canvas cloth to give ohlala a freedom to paint their own symbols on their heads as if they are designing their own fate. And he guesses that is what we all have in common, the power to make things happen for ourselves.
Acrylic, oil, and aerosol paint are Barrera’s choice of medium in painting, a lot of times he often let accidents like drips, smudges, and splatters to help him decipher what to do. Barrera starts with very loose abstract figures to overcome the fear of an empty canvas staring at him. In this collection of work, Barrera tries to become as personal as possible, using ohlala as the main character to depict some of his experiences that lead him to where he is right now as an artist.