MANILA, Philippines - Bold colors dominated the 13-piece, first solo exhibit of UP College of Fine Arts graduate Ina Jardiolin. The 25-year-old artist opened her show Stripped at the Kaida Contemporary Gallery in South Triangle, Quezon City.
In Stripped, Ina explored the landscape of the human body while questioning our society’s ideals of beauty, sex and gender roles. Depicting her subjects to be in possession of androgynous qualities, Ina invites the onlooker to embrace both the male and female energies.
In keeping with the spirit of breaking out of the ordinary, Ina painted not only on canvas, but also on shoe lasts or molds, which was her way of paying homage to the 30-year shoemaking tradition of the Jardiolin family, known for local shoe brands Confetti, Marikina Shoe Exchange and Natasha.
Ina’s shoe lasts, which were almost sold out in a span of an hour, also featured “stripped” images of human bodies with whimsical touches like a fishtail or a pair of thorns and red eyes. (Follow me on Instagram @pepperteehankee.)