This year has seen Filipinos slowly but surely returning to a semblance of normal life at last. This gradual re-emergence is what painter and sculptor Katrina Cuenca seeks to convey with her upcoming show, “Slowly We Unfurl.”
The exhibition features paintings and sculptures of flower-like forms on the cusp of blossoming, their undulating petals rendered in muted, soothing shades. There is a sense of steady, graceful movement, with all of these elements coming together to evoke the gradual awakening of spring.
“I wanted to somehow depict how humanity is ‘re-blossoming’ after all the quarantines and lockdowns,” Cuenca explains.
“Although I know the pandemic isn’t over, I am happy to see how people are re-emerging into society and how we are learning to adapt to our current situation. I can see that we all have learned a lot about ourselves and how much we can endure and it seems we are coming out of this stronger and more hopeful.”
The series retains elements of Cuenca’s signature style. There is the sense of movement and flow, along with the use of gold leaf for the paintings. Cuenca also enjoys experimenting with different materials, such as a special light-absorbing black paint used for both the sculptures and paintings. This paint absorbs 99.8% of light, resulting in a very matte, dark finish.
“For some of my pieces, I attach a prismatic dichroic film onto an acrylic box which I then use to cover the artwork, to add another dimension to the piece, when the light hits the film and projects a holographic pattern on the painting or sculpture,” Cuenca adds. “I like to think that light is sort of an external medium for my art. I like to play with different finishes and textures and materials that react differently to light. I find it fascinating how we perceive and experience things differently, with just a subtle change of atmosphere.”
At the same time, this series marks a departure from Cuenca’s previous work. In keeping with the hopeful theme of the collection, she uses lighter pigments for her paintings, as if to signal brighter days ahead. Like the shift from midnight to dawn, her sculptures have gone from metallic and jet black tones to illuminated shades on white bases.
“I really enjoyed the shift in mindset I had to do while working on the pieces for this exhibit,” Cuenca says.
”For the paintings, the composition is very different from my past works. As for the sculptures, the color palette as well as the flow and shape of the figures are different as well. As an abstract artist it is very important to explore new things and I’m really happy this exhibit paved the way for that exercise.”
With “Slowly We Unfurl,” Cuenca has certainly captured the current mood we find ourselves in as we emerge from the pandemic. Each of her pieces has an ethereal, transitional quality, speaking to society’s hopes for a post-pandemic world.
“Slowly We Unfurl” will run from November 14-25, 2022 at Galerie Joaquin Rockwell.
