Exhibit Coming Up!

This 3 by 4 ft. canvas is blank no more!

Since late December of last year, I’ve been working on concepts, verses, sketches, and studies for my upcoming group exhibit. I’m so glad to be finally putting out work in a gallery (or on public, gasp!)…something I haven’t done in a long time since I graduated in 2004.

I’ve been wanting to do an exhibit for a long time now, but didn’t know exactly what to paint about. I felt like I just didn’t paint whatever for all the world to see. These art experiments are done for my own personal curiosity.

There have been a lot of experiences and issues that I’ve tried to grapple with in my own life. And as I was on my way out of  internal turmoil (this I failed to see because I was in it) and trying to make sense of things,  serendipity makes a visit. A friend asked me to join a group exhibit – and I’ve been invited many times before, but felt I wasn’t ready – but somehow, I agreed and have been full of excitement. When she pitched her concept for the exhibit, the idea just completely resonated with me.

In our exhibit, our works take inspiration from Dante Aleghieri’s Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy). In this Italian epic poem, written between 1308 and 11321, Dante (the poet as pilgrim) explores the Christian afterlife in Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory. What is interesting about this work is how the writer plays himself, the protagonist of his own verses.

What we take from this epic poem are the verses that resonate in our own lives and how it inspires our own journey.