Political art remains a risky endeavor even in the democratic institutions of the Philippines today. Activism and provocation in art, raising a fist against the status quo, tends to get an outsized reaction from the government. History of Censorship We saw this recently in the attempted censorship of Alipato at Muog, a documentary about the […]
‘Land Poetics’: Dina Gadia Depicts Nature And Nostalgia In New Exhibit
Land Poetics, Dina Gadia’s newest exhibit at Silverlens Makati, opened on June 11 and will continue to run until July 13. Most of the exhibit contains paintings of trees and wildlife, inspired by a playground in Anda, Pangasinan where she grew up.
Gadia’s inspiration for the exhibit revolves around the idea of nostalgia. It mainly juxtaposes the specificity that exists in the reality of the memory and the way that nostalgia tends to wash away the details towards sentimentalism instead. The way memory works, we only remember specific details within an experience. In a way, Gadia captures how vague memories become sentiments of feeling by what we focus on.
In Raymond de Borja’s write-up for the exhibit, they place emphasis on how nostalgia tends to sand off complexities. They also touch on how it creates simplicity, an easiness that did not exist in the reality of the object.
“But isn’t nostalgia by default an already suspect sentiment, lying on a spectrum which at one end, less hysterical and all-veneer, triggers our consumerist drives and on another, farther hysterical end, pure fanaticism, feeds our mass passion for fascist figures and tendencies, ways of life?” they said.
The Woods and the Trees
Dina Gadia approaches these paintings of her childhood home with an eye for accuracy that rivals scientific illustrations. The figures depicted holds a sense of detail that brings these subjects to life before one’s eyes.
Paintings like “Trees” or two of the “Under One Constant” works show Gadia’s abilities to carefully render their subject in a way that highlights different features. Moreover, the use of white space allows for more expansive imaginations to see the elements that aren’t there. Something like the roots protruding off the ground or the stumps of the trunk appear hinted upon even without extreme specificity.
And yet, a strange and excellent aspect about this exhibit is how other paintings play with colors. For paintings like “Land Poetics (Encounters)” or “Under One Constant,” Gadia uses color in a way that’s reminiscent of Roy Lichtenstein: simple, vivid, and emotionally evocative.
“Land Poetics (Encounters)” is especially wonderful to see. That painting reminds one of Bill Watterson’s more splashy Sunday comics because it feels alive, like the whole forest is swaying along within this stream. The colors pop out in different ways, and the mixing and usage of different shades portray a living history that feels intentional and aligned to the exhibit’s purpose.
These paintings give off a strange balance between naturalistic sketches and the more splashy comic coloring. They mix together, maintaining the simplicity of the sketches while creating a more picturesque environment.
The Nostalgia That Blinds
The works in the exhibit feel self-conscious in their approach. Gadia’s accuracy in some and cheekiness in others gives off a sense of deconstructing how we remember things in the first place.
Trees in the forest, ones that Gadia would have seen up close, are rendered in exacting detail. Meanwhile, fleeting, far-off things like clouds or signage have a cartoony look akin to ones you see on comic strips.
It all goes back to the idea of nostalgia. It’s the way that we attempt to recreate things in the present under the perspective of some far-off ideal past. The art is conscious of itself because we are conscious of ourselves today in fits of nostalgic feeling, and that affects how we render our experiences from the past today.
As a whole, Land Poetics combines two distinct elements of two different art styles to render a unique angle into the past and how it tends to exist outside the context of the times. As a society enamored with reliving simpler times and putting the past on a pedestal, Dina Gadia gives a subtle, comic angle that allows us to deconstruct these perspectives in the first place.
Related reading: Silverlens @ 20: For the Love of Art and Exhibition
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