Pat Frades and Mariel Garcia
Opening
Saturday, May 8, 2021
Space Encounters Gallery
Unit 7D, 7th Floor, Padilla Building, F. Ortigas Jr. Road, Ortigas Centre, 1605 Pasig
Kusōzu, which started in Japan in the 8th Century, was originally a series of watercolor paintings that depict the slow decay of a body, usually female. It originated from the Buddhist belief that one must meditate on the temporary nature of life and the physical world through studying the decomposition of a body. There couldn’t be a more perfect art movement that embraces the points of view of artists Pat Frades and Mariel Garcia.
Mariel’s paintings meld flowers with bones; nature and death on the nature of death. It’s not as dark as one expects because her work ironically bursts with life. She shares that her work for this current show was the result of the pandemic. Mariel wanted to show the meaning of life through the looming presence of death. Pat shows the fusing of nature and decay in highly detailed three-dimensional polymer clay sculpture pieces. It’s frighteningly beautiful grace almost makes you forget that this is decay: body parts and bones become vessels of new life as what once was human melts back into the earth, back into nature.
Mariel Garcia is a visual artist and a book illustrator. She has been part of exhibitions with various galleries like Secret Fresh Gallery White Walls, Makati Contemporary, Art for Space, Terminal 240, J Studio, Galerie Roberto, Art Anton and participated in Art in the Park 2020 and 2021, and has done collaborations with Levi’s Philippines and Huawei Philippines.
Pat Frades is a self-taught visual artist known for her whimsical polymer clay sculpture pieces. She has been part of exhibitions with various galleries like Vinyl on Vinyl, NOVA Gallery, Space Encounters Gallery, Galerie Roberto, Secret Fresh, Art for Space Gallery, Ocular Gallery, Village Art Gallery, White Walls Gallery and Art Underground. She also exhibited in Singapore, Taiwan and Shenzhen, China.
