Jessa Almirol
Opening
January 20, 2024
Provenance Art Gallery
Shangrila Hotel at The Fort, 5th Avenue corner 30th Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, Philippines
🎶 One of these mornings you’re gonna rise up singing.
Yes, you’ll spread your wings and you’ll take to the sky.
But ’til that morning, there’s nothing can harm you. 🎶
“Summertime” is Jessa Almirol’s 2nd Solo Exhibition and a subseries from her ever-evolving theme, Pantsdrunk.
When Almirol first articulated her vision in 2021, she named the work after what she found to be the idea closest to it: Pantsdrunk, a Finnish tradition of being alone, stripping to one’s underwear and enjoying a drink — however, Almirol’s pantsdrunk is an expansion of that idea, to embody a state of mind wherein being physically alone is being in one’s own spiritual plane. It is a milestone for Almirol after she attained her objectives to convey this idea through her first solo exhibition in 2023. It’s an organic evolution in her figurative-painting practice as it lays bare her later training in and teaching of the old European master’s classical techniques, which employs the simplification of elements to deliver a feeling of realness. The discipline she adapted here allowed her to expand her sights beyond the obvious and express her vision more in terms of color, shape, and space, all for which she has found more playful control and enjoyment. As she further explored these abstract elements, her work and process have become more and more unconsciously influenced by early 20th century art movements that she had always admired: the De Stijl and the Bauhaus, in her use of swathes of color, and simplest and only essential elements to functionally deliver her vision.
“Summertime” is an emphasis from Pantsdrunk theme that is focusing on the visualization of a world, where everything slows down and simple pleasures are the norm. The title is inspired by an aria called Summertime composed in 1934 by George Gershwin for the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess; and its lyrics written by the author DuBose Heyward who wrote the novel Porgy on which the opera was based. Like the music “Summertime,” this series of artworks are like lullaby that evokes comfort and serenity. Through these artworks Almirol aims to remind the public, including herself, that this sense of security and breathing space can be created within ourselves and then in our community. Almirol believes that if this is being practiced consistently & religiously, people can nourish its connection with others, and then would realize each other’s belongingness despite a chaotic and challenging world.
