Monica & Michelle: No temporary artists
Taking their lead from the ‘80s new wave/post-punk band Romeo Void’s Top 40 single A Girl in Trouble (Is a Temporary Thing), artists Monica Delgado and Michelle Pérez mounted an exhibit dubbed Painting in Trouble (Is a Temporary Thing).
Staged at Finale Art File in Makati City and running until July 29, the first-time joint exhibit by these two artists showcases their talent through a series of objects “mainly produced using poured and layered acrylic paint: vividly colored and viscous forms shaped through both controlling the medium and letting it flow.”
Monica — who is the daughter of my good friends Mayie Delgado and Suzie Laurel — earned her bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts major in Painting from the University of the Philippines in Diliman (cum laude) and completed two residencies from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She has also done solo and group shows in Manila, Singapore, New York and Houston. In this exhibit, Monica utilizes acrylic paint as a medium and in a manner that reflects her interest in “exploring the physicality and materiality of paint” to create three-dimensional objects.
Michelle, who is described as one of the few Filipino artists who engage in non-figurative paintings, features her work “created in the course of a year through the physical processes of flowing and pouring.” In her Post-It and Paint Drop series, she used collaged drops of dried paint merged on different formats.
Looking at their work and the medium as well as the process by which the paintings were created, one is convinced that both Monica and Michelle successfully display how it is possible to “paint” without the tools of painting, and that “within the practice of contemporary art, painting may not be in trouble after all.” - Photos by Ramon Joseph J. Ruiz
