Artistic pairing
HE IS a muralist and she is an illustrator. He is drawn to geometric shapes and pastel colors while she is fond of women, cats, and muted hues. Kris Abrigo and Soleil Ignacio — lovers and lovers of urban art — create contrasting yet complementary artworks. And together, they have an ongoing month-long exhibit collection in partnership with Habitat Manila on view at Abensons, BGC.
Habitat Manila, a European furniture and accessories store, commissions local artists to create exhibits that enhance and harmonize with its home products. “Design is a lifestyle, and artistry and personal style is expressed most comfortably in our homes and most private spaces,” said Habitat director, Walter Lim, in a statement.
With this in mind, the two artists have created and imagined their studio love nest using Habitat furniture and accessories while also highlighting their own creations.
WHO ARE THEY?
Before becoming a full time creative illustrator, Ms. Ignacio, 27, was a designer and art director for a fashion magazine. Her work has appeared in Nylon magazine and some international young adult fiction books, among others. Because her background is fashion, beauty, and lifestyle, the subjects of her paintings are focused on fashionable women “in the everyday life... my works are nothing too deep [ because] what you see is what you get.”
She said she is currently in love with cats and women with mysterious personas, often looking pensive and wearing a “RBF” (resting bitch face). “I like my subjects with a hint of feminism: I like them strong and feline-like,” she said.
While her boyfriend describes her artwork as “organic, gestural, and refined,” Mr. Abrigo’s own creations, on the other hand, are the opposite. His are linear, angular, and calculated.
The two artists, who are Fine Arts batch mates in University of the Philippines, Diliman, said there is no competition between them, but they share ideas and thoughts that will help them together as two different artists.
Mr. Abrigo’s works “have grids and work with a system,” he said, adding that he is obsessive- compulsive and his artworks are reflections of his frustrations with society, which he describes as “loose, no order, and without finesse,” from the way we disobey traffic rules to escalator etiquette.
Mr. Abrigo is the creator behind some of the Instagram-famous murals among the BGC building walls, which are often used as backgrounds for #OOTDs (outfit of the day). He has also done another commissioned mural in Hong Kong, painting the walls of the hip Ovolo Southside Hotel which used to be a warehouse along Wong Chuk Hang Road.
His other creations are found in restaurants like the Early Bird Breakfast Club.
According to Habitat marketing director, Mundi Ocampo, they discovered the two artists on Instagram. —