Galerie Stephanie and Galerie Joaquin present Camille Ver‘s Building Light in collaboration with Locsin Furniture.
Join us at the opening night on November 20, Thursday, 6pm. Opening reception will be held at Galerie Joaquin VIP Room, 371 P. Guevarra St. cor. Montessori Lane, San Juan City.
ABOUT THE EXHIBIT
Anything we can visually perceive is connected to a material’s interaction with light. Light, in many ways, is the foundation of visual art, design, architecture and aesthetic composition. As such, artistic practitioners have long sought to understand the nature of light—philosophically, spiritually, and metaphysically. From a transcendent force, light is also a component of radiated particles, connected with the deeper notions of space. It is used as a measurement, but it is also used as a building module. It is not enough that people construct pragmatic devices—indeed, the whole concept of art stands on the idea that aesthetic virtue – whether from a painting, a lampshade, or a chair – can uplift and give meaning to life.
Abstractionist Camille Ver tackles this notion in a fascinating collaborative exhibition at Galerie Joaquin. Entitled “Building Light,” Ver partners up with Locsin Furniture & Lighting in an exhibition that combines painting with furniture installations—particularly using Ver’s abstract practice on lamp and chair designs. One part of a double-exhibition that will cap off Galerie Joaquin’s successful year – the other being Sanso: Black & White – the exhibition opens on November 20 and will run until December 4.
Galerie Joaquin is located at 371 P. Guevarra Street corner Montesorri Lane, Addition Hills, San Juan City. They may be reached through landline at (632) 723-9418, or email at info@galeriejoaquin.com. Please visit their website at www.galeriejoaquin.com.
One of the art scene’s rising young abstractionists, Camille Ver is a graduate of the College of Fine Arts of the University of the Philippines. As opposed to the common usage of controlled minimalism in abstraction, Ver prefers to use large swaths of brushworks and experiments extensively with color and depth in her practice. Her transitions between inorganic to organic subjects is emphasized by her forceful use of expressive strokes that are tempered by the tec-pen lines.
For this exhibition, Ver collaborates with Locsin Furnitures & Lighting and came up with 7 lamp shades and 3 chairs that have her signature abstractions painted on them. She surrounds these installations with new works that continue her abstractions of urban areas and cityscapes.
“I want to be able to master combining [colors] and through it create my own identity,” says Ver. “My ‘supporting actors’ – the buildings, trees and pen drawings – add to that identity. I love looking up at buildings and trees admiring how they are made and the purpose they serve.”
This is apparent in works like “My Own Adventure With the Sun,” where the composition is awash in the yellow of an early-morning sunrise. The cityscape on this background is given detail by the lines that Ver draws on them, creating an abstracted reality that plays with light and form.
“I gathered references, went to several exhibits for inspiration, did my my own studies,” Ver shares about her process. “I always keep in mind what new work I want to show.”
Ver dedicates this exhibition to her father, Francis A. Ver, who passed away earlier this year, and her aunt Marcia V. Carmona, who also passed away this year.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Though Camille Ver’s usual reference point is a large metropolis, she intends that it doesn’t reflect a single place—rather, her works represent an archetype of cityscapes. Thus, we are often treated to a collage of familiar sites that are neither here nor there. There are often anecdotal references to older structures – and Ver does consider incomplete and crumbling buildings aesthetically attractive – but the intent is to recreate the emotional resonance one gains from an urban location. The broader composition of acrylic is then layered with lines drawn in with a tech pen, bringing detail and order to an otherwise blurred form. These lines could represent the hard lines of an actual cityscape—created in part by a mixture of power cables, laundry lines, telephone poles, and the steel bars of a construction site. In Ver’s oeuvre, however, they represent a framing element, allowing viewers to contextualize the compositions as works exploring the urban perspective whilst remaining true to the sensibilities of abstraction within the realm of visual art—highly reminiscent of, say, Wassily Kandinsky’s works.
With a background from the College of Fine Arts of the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Ver bucks the common usage of minimalism in abstraction, preferring large swaths of brushworks and experimentations in color in her practice. Building Light being her 9th solo show, Camille Ver is on the verge of becoming an important player in the development of abstract expressionism in the country’s visual arts scene.
