Joy Rojas’ fourth solo exhibition
September 2 to September 13, 2019
Opening Reception:
September 2, Monday, 6 PM
SM Art Center
4F Building A, The Artwalk, SM Megamall, EDSA cor. Julia Vargas Ave., Mandaluyong City, Philippines
“Look at walls splashed with a number of stains, or stones of various mixed colors…If you have to invent some scene, you can see there resemblances to a number of landscapes, adorned with mountains, rivers, rocks, trees, great plains, valleys and hills, in various ways. Also you can see various battles, and lively postures of strange figures, expressions on faces, costumes, and an infinite number of things, which you can reduce to good integrated form. The mind is stimulated to new discoveries…because by indistinct things the mind is stimulated to new inventions.”
Thus advised Da Vinci on how to break down the visual impasse that inevitably afflicts artists who in time felt that they have painted themselves into a corner.
While Da Vinci clearly addressed his counsel to representational artists – abstraction as a concept had not as yet emerged – it was used as a stimulating starting point by modernist artists who preferred not to paint the literal, physical world – but a world beyond the reach of the visible eyes.
One might say that the artist Joy Rojas has looked at stained walls and, to his surprise, discovered that the wall by itself was visually rewarding enough, possessed of its own natural power and aesthetic beauty: its robustness and sturdiness, its solidity and stability. And yes: the mystery and alchemy of the natural forces that have rained down and shined on those stone walls through the years.
As the legendary American artist Frank Stella was said to have emerged an abstractionist full-blown as if from the brow of Zeus, the same can be said for Joy Rojas – who was formally educated as a lawyer and not as a classical painter. Since his first solo show, he has taken his bow to the artists’ community as a full-fledged abstractionist.
On view at the SM Art Center is Joy Rojas’ fourth solo show titled “Rising Sun,” a presentation of his recent works, organized by Galerie Anna. In these robust and solid works, Rojas once again transforms a surface into an encounter with the infinite varieties of sensation, tension and languorous mood, dominated by a low-key, greyed-out, monochrome palette and a lavish feast of textures.
Rojas as an artist is categorized among the minimalists – it is true that his works are spare, reductive, free of clutter and distraction, rejecting the gestural brushstroke, depth and visual illusion – but they are lean without being arid, austere or anorexic. As ifin recompense, Rojas gratifies the viewer with ample energy of execution, conveyed and felt by the viewer as a vitality of expression and the sheer appetite for the palette knife’s application of pigment. The artist has shared that his titles are drawn from a most unexpected source: the Dividendazo, the racing programme that lists the names of the competing horses. Thus the titles Majestic Ruler, Jade Hunter, SilverStory, Animo, Millennial, Sun God. Rojas is, not known to most, a horse breeder, and was once the chairman of the Philippine Racing Commission.
A bow, however, to his legal profession is Res Judicata – “a matter judged.”
Veering away from the square and rectangular format, Rojas seizes the cruciform and converts it into a shaped vessel for spiritual exhortation. He has christened the works Ushpizin – meaning
“guests” in Aramaic. It is the Jewish Feast of the Tabernacles. The word is collectively used, referring to the guests Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph, and David. For Rojas, the choice of the cruciform is an emotive advance to the symbol of Christianity.
As to the exhibition title Rising Sun, the viewer may in gratitude bestow on theartist himself such a deserved honorific.
Through the years, classical as well as contemporary artists, like Joy Rojas, have looked at, and mined, those stained stone walls, finding therein such infinite images, stimulating them to new inventions – as if indeed the Mona Lisa herself had smiled at them.
Written by Cid Reyes
For inquiries, call tel no: 470-2511. Mobile: 0995-9908202 | 0915-1976955.
#GalerieAnna #JoyRojas #ArtPH #ArtMNL
