Katrina Cuenca captures re-emergence with grace
IF the past few pandemic-ridden years inflicted the abstract melancholy of autumn and casted the freezing gloom of winter, this year we got the first scent of spring. This sense of the sky clearing up, this gradual re-emergence into normalcy, serves as the concept of visual artist Katrina Cuenca for her latest solo exhibition, titled Slowly We Unfurl. The show opened at Galerie Joaquin Rockwell yesterday, November 14, and will be on display until November 25.
“I wanted to somehow depict how humanity is ‘re-blossoming’ after all the quarantines and lockdowns,” Cuenca said in a press release for the exhibit. “Although I know the pandemic isn’t over,
I am happy to see how people are re-emerging into society and how we are learning to adapt to our current situation. I can see that we all have learned a lot about ourselves and how much we can endure, and it seems we are coming out of this stronger and more hopeful.”
Cuenca, born in 1984, graduated with a Finance degree and entered the corporate world prior to pursuing an art career. She is a self-taught artist whose first exhibition came in 2010 as part of a group show. But it wasn’t until 2015 when she really immersed herself into the local arts scene, establishing her art with multiple exhibitions over the years.
The title of Cuenca’s new show proves fitting both for the exhibition’s idea as well as her established style. Presented in Slowly We Unfurl are her paintings and sculptures that twirl along the fine line between figuration and abstraction, dancing with balletic elegance. Lines run through with grace, as her choice and use of color dramatically convey motion and depth.
It’s a discernable style that Cuenca manages to pull through with consistency in the face of her penchant for experimentation. In her latest solo show, she attaches a prismatic dichroic film onto an acrylic box that covers her artwork. The idea is to carve another dimension in the piece by projecting a holographic pattern when touched by light.
“I like to think that light is sort of an external medium for my art,” Cuenca said. “I like to play with different finishes and textures and materials that react differently to light. I find it fascinating how we perceive and experience things differently, with just a subtle change of atmosphere.”
This captivating iridescence is in full display on her featured sculptures, including Ripples Form on the Water’s Surface. In The Winter Sun Sets on Us, gradient warmth plays with the unforgiving cold of the white base.
Meanwhile, her paintings feature lighter pigments that signify renewed hope. The Goddess Descends From the Sky depicts extended arms with fingers pointing, as Wings of Light Spread Afar radiates a kind of light that touches the soul.
Cuenca’s Slowly We Unfurl presents a shift in tone with the artist switching from darker hues that exemplify luxury to lighter choices that illuminates. It’s Cuenca reminding us that brighter days are ahead.
More information is available at Galerie Joaquin’s Facebook and Instagram pages at @galeriejoaquin.