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WOMANIZING THE FEMALE
by Siddharta Perez
The subject of the woman - also, the woman subject - has been quite a discourse in the history of civilizations. Considered as a "dark continent," the woman is put in a political anatomy where the patriarch has reigned supreme. In time, women have started proclaiming their unique countenance. Lydia Velasco is one woman who speaks as a woman, for women and toward women. Through her art, she speaks out for the multitudes of women with a command in form and painterly medium.
Les Femmes is Velasco's tenth solo show and her major show for Year 2008. Having gathered well-deserved recognition for the mastery of her paintings, she has taken part in numerous shows and art events internationally. Known for her gracefully elongated and elegantly brawny female figures, she has - from the very start - declared her personal and very cultivated advocacy for her gender.
Leisurely breaking away from pastoral scenes, Velasco has chosen to depict the contemporary Filipino woman for this exhibition. Her frames are inhabited by ladies frozen in their different daily activities - from rest and coy recreation to idle talk - and situated in various spaces of leisure. Velasco's women portray the perspective that the modern woman does not have to be in man's attire or work in order to assert herself. She has chosen to portray the feminine characteristics by merging sensuality and strength, softness and iron will, modesty and extravagance, mystery and openness. Les Femmes is a polished dialectic that fiercely depicts that in women, personal history blends together with the history of all women. "My Soul" is a self-portrait that renders any societal determinism inadequate. Woman is neither this nor that, but a composition of all: Velasco paints as a woman overflows: her desires have invented new desires, her body knows of unheard-of songs. And as the individual woman speaks, she speaks in multitudes. Thus, a woman is also part of a collective as shown in a number of her works such as "Panuelo," "Flower Ladies," "Sisters" and "Summertime." Woman for women, she contains a matrix, she is her own sister-daughter.
Velasco's women have a sleepy cast to their eyes, their skin lovingly tanned. They are warriors of Filipino beauty. Her compositions are full of movement, she has chosen to paint subtle waves of sweet color and objects swaying to the gestures and pose of her figures. Velasco also presents a new element to her aesthetics in Les Femmes - the incorporation of found textile and embroidery. Her cunning and her craft are inseparable as these mixed media works are put side by side with her purely oil pieces. The painterly details of the latter works make it almost impossible to tell the difference between the paintings and found clothing. The limitless capacities of a woman is buttressed with Velasco's fine hand and unfailing eye. Having gone full time in painting for twenty years now, she has continually impressed her audience with her aesthetic drive and masterful output.
Les Femmes runs from 25 October to 9 November 2008 in Galerie Stephanie. Galerie Stephanie is located at Unit 1-B, Parc Plaza Building, 183 E. Rodriguez Jr. Avenue, Libis, Quezon City. For inquiries please call (632) 709-1488 or (632) 386-8070 or visit www.galeriestephanie.multiply.com and www.galeriestephanie.blogspot.com. |
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