Dialogo

Celeste Lecaroz

November 13 – December 05, 2021

Art Elaan
2nd Floor, Filipino Village, Ayala Malls Manila Bay, Diosdado Macapagal Blvd, cor Aseana Ave, Parañaque, Philippines

Landline: (02) 7 728-6577
Email: info@artelaan.com / inquiry.artelaan@gmail.com

A playful secret makes its way around the artworks of Celeste Lecaroz in her 7th solo exhibition, titled Dialogo.

Shared by the same two youthful women donning intricate Filipiniana dresses, the viewers are kept at bay and left but to gaze at the softness of the subjects’ faces, the warmth of their smiles, and, most noticeably, the intimacy of their relationship.

Dialogo, after all, features pieces from Lecaroz’s ongoing series about sisterhood, which she began in 2019, and executes only in pastels. Her use of the particular media, considered one of the most long-standing in art history for maintaining a formulation almost unchanged since its emergence in the Renaissance, places Lecaroz in a sisterhood herself alongside women artists.

“The pastel medium is recognized to have historical ties to female artists,” said Italian curator Furio Rinaldi, who presents the idea in a current exhibition at The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, titled Color Into Line: Pastels From the Renaissance to the Present. “This is revealed through powerful examples by Rosalba Carriera, who popularized the art of pastel painting in 18th century Venice; Elizabeth Louise Vigée-LeBrun and Marie Gabrielle Capet, who championed the genre in France in the late 1700’s; and Mary Cassatt, Eva Gonzalès, and Berthe Morisot, the celebrated heroines of Impressionism.”

Lecaroz relays the practice with superb showcases in this show. In spite of becoming a full-time artist just five years ago, Lecaroz continues to display tremendous growth in breathing life to her subjects, imbuing them with emotions, connections, and even secrets to share.