The Moth / The Flame

Isobel Francisco

Opening
November 4, 2022 | 5 PM | Friday

Village Art Gallery
Alabang Town Center, 1770 Muntinlupa City

One might immediately think of the word “distortion” when gazing upon Isobel Francisco’s painterly figurations. Bodies twist and contort in ways that stir up feelings of discomfort. They writhe and lay bare, lie still and conceal. Masses of flesh hunch over as if in defeat or surrender, while others are lost in a dreamy reverie. At the heart of this feeling of unease is the discovery that these distortions are actually expressions of internal, natural desire in its purest form, unencumbered by pretense and free to provoke as it does-from the hunched curve of one’s back, to the tips of their outstretched toes.

In The Moth / The Flame, Isobel Francisco explores the manifestations of desire as expressed through the human body. She takes the female nude as a conduit to explore the deep-seated machinations of humanity one could only get in touch with through such an exposed vulnerability. It is said that humans are beings of desire. Yet as Francisco illuminates, such a desire may express itself in different ways. It may see itself in a state of blissful ignorance, concealed in frustration, or caught candidly unaware, bubbling into unfettered attention. The figures are suspended in white-a literal and metaphorical empty canvas one may project themselves onto.

Or perhaps a mental blank space, representing the all too consuming character of desire and the inescapable nature of its presence.

Like the moth to a flame, one is drawn to their desires at their own risk. The realm of female desire is especially volatile. Often made the object of want, yet the woman is just as much swayed by her own yearnings. Are both roles exclusive of the other? In The Moth / The Flame, Francisco illustrates desire as something one harbors in deeper shades of nuance. For the artist, bodies contain entire worlds, as rich and multicolored as her vigorously rendered skin tones. The show presents an exploration into these worlds. Such a journey may always present some discomfort, but it reveals more to the spirited bodies we possess than we may have even realized.