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Text: Noy Bedaña
Layout Design: Carlo Abello
Cover: Noy Bedaña
Seemingly drawn out from another time, I consider my pieces for this show as some kind of time machine that takes you back into past. What I like about these subjects is that they elicit a sense of calm and tranquility while simultaneously exuding a perception of loneliness and melancholia. I believe in the beauty and poetry of opposites and those are the concepts that I really, really find interesting to play around with.
Left - Right
Door to the Orient
83 x 35.5 in Oil on Wood
Drifting to the Sea
83 x 35.5 in Oil on Wood
(Back View)
The crane has always been a strong symbol of success, its powerful flight pattern make it the perfect symbol of power and strength. Origami cranes represent hope and your heart’s desires. These doors provide motivation and encouragement when you need to focus your mind on your goals.
Left - Right Whispers of the Lake 83 x 35.5 in Oil on Wood
Swan Lake 83 x 35.5 in Oil on Wood
I have always seen doors as an invitation to a realm of new possibilities. For me, they represent change and are an emergence from a prior state.
My pieces for this show pursue to highlight these changes and how we should embrace such differences. My familiar use of blooming elements is a reminder that changes are inevitable, but it is through these changes that we become more exceptional humans; thriving, blooming, patiently waiting to reach our fullest potential.
Bloom of Colors 83 x 35.5 in Oil on Wood Mundo de las Flores 83 x 35.5 in Oil on Wood Left - Right
Doors are like window frames depicting the beauty of the soul and the true symbolic meaning of life transforming the real into the unreal giving the subjective vision of finding oneself without control.
Left - Right
Hikari To Kagayaku Ai (Light and Shining Love)
83 x 35.5 in Oil on Wood
Utsukushi Jinsei (A Beautiful Life)
83 x 35.5 in Oil on Wood
A “door”is a symbol of opportunity, a passageway from one place or state to another. For my pieces for Portals of Perception I decided to represent the images of familiar metropolis, places that encourage the expression and achievement of our highest potentials. As what Joseph Campbell, one of my literary heroes once said “Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls”.
My door is a reflection of who and how I am. It is about positive possibilities even beyond our capabilities. Every door we open can be beautiful especially if we embrace each opportunity we are given with happiness and love.
Wonderland (series) 83 x 35.5 in Oil on Wood
Cor unum, one heart
Twin heartbeats
Locked in a secret garden
Left - Right
Cor Unum II (One Heart)
83 x 35.5 in Oil on Wood
Cor Unum I (One Heart)
83 x 35.5 in Oil on Wood
People have always appreciated the textural qualities of my abstract works and have often resonated with the awe that I feel when I paint my skyscapes and seascapes. For several years now, I have been wanting to bring these expressions out of the canvas, to extend my paintings into the tactile threedimension reality that we respond so strongly to. I want people to be able to feel the splash, dripping and the splattering of my paint, and the crashing of my waves not just visually, but through the heft and solidity of sculpture.
Last year was the culmination of my first decade in art. I am marking my second decade with the further development of my painting into their sculptural expression. For 2023, I was inspired to create several layers of this and lay them over each other in a composition which mimics the way I layer paint in my abstract series. By layering different colored sheets of molten metals, I am able to provide the depth that the colors in my paintings achieve.
As an artist I work hard to develop paintings that speak both to me and to others and the beauty that exists in nature through abstract forms.
I created these pieces through a unique vantage point. I like to look at the world and bring a new outlook to the viewers and I am inspired to make art that holds strong memories.
Land of the Rising Sun 83 x 35.5 in Oil on Wood Flourishing Vines 83 x 35.5 in Oil on Wood Left - Right
It is only by God’s grace that one may believe in the beauty of Eternal Love – that even after life, love continuously exists in death and in one’s life in Heaven.
Also, more than anything, the real miracle comes from above through life that allows us to see our purpose and appreciate every breath as a gift from the Lord who unconditionally shares His love for us to be shared to each other.
Miracle of Love 83 x 35.5 in Oil on Wood Higher Ground (One Great Love) 83 x 35.5 in Oil on Wood Left - Right
Para sa akin, ang pinto ay maaring ihalintulad sa kung paano natin dapat tingnan ang kababaihan. Hindi lang ang kanilang panlabas na itsura ang batayan ng kanilang pagkakakilanlan. Bagkus, kinakailangan din natin silang kilalanin sa antas higit pa sa kung ano ang nakikita. Dahil para sakin, ang mga pinto ay parang tao din, punó ng istorya, hiwaga, at likas na máhiká.
Left - Right
Gate Keepers
83 x 35.5 in Oil on Wood
On the other Side
83 x 35.5 in Oil on Wood
My works have always been about portraying familiar Philippine genre subjects and local landscape scenery. For this exhibition my intention stems from the attempt to disclose that the Philippines’ culture is so much more than what the general population perceives it to be. The doors–which are used as ground for the paintings-serve as an invitation to explore our own identity as they examine the diverse culture that the Philippines has to offer.
Birds of Paradise 83 x 35.5 in Oil on Wood Harvest, Dry & Mill 83 x 35.5 in Oil on Wood Left - Right
Door to Eden I and II evoke a feeling of surprise mingled with admiration as you journey to quintessential places full of wonder. Through my doors, you will find realms, so near and just steps away.
Left - Right
Door to Eden I
83 x 35.5 in Oil on Wood
Door to Eden II
83 x 35.5 in Oil on Wood
My Doors are inspired by Japanese mythology. The one titled Amaterasu, is considered “the Great Divinity illuminating Heaven” where we consider our home as sacred for us.
The door entitled Tsukiyomi is about order and etiquette. The story of Amaterasu and Tsukiyomi is the creation of Night and Day. Doors may be considered relevant in our lives as portal of events with new beginnings and endings
Tsukiyomi 83 x 35.5 in Oil on Wood Amaterasu 83 x 35.5 in Oil on Wood Left - Right