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Lot Essay
In discussing the work of Geraldine Javier, an art critic has poetically described " The tedious attention to detail that Geraldine Javier gives her canvas would be overwhelming were it not for the exhilarating rush I get from the finished product. Her virtuosity is obvious, her last brush stroke on the canvas is as conclusive as the last note of a concerto piece. The discipline and resolve behind her process allow her canvases to capture moments as evanescent as the afterglow of twilight, to sensations as abstract as the feel of grass after sudden rain. In this haze of melancholy, moods inhabit spectral figures: ambiguously inert bodies, apparitions neither sentient nor numb that seem to be as much a part of her landscapes as a rotting log or a discarded implement. Bathed in the unearthly half light of a dream, it sends you to a trance-like state of chilling beautiful dread. Behind her sleek surface of seduction lurk elegiac narratives, hinting at a violation perhaps, suffused with intimations of mortality in a foreboding dark fable." (Ronald Achacoso, "Derelict Charm and Flaming Alegories" in Metro Him Magazine, Vol. 3 No. 1.)
The characteristic enigmatic and dramatic elements which, is injected subtly by the artist is most readily seen with the present lot. A slightly oblique compositional axis is intended by the artist as she arranges the cropped figure in the midst of a swing of movement, almost dancing off the canvas. The intended sense of emptiness enhances the lure of the protagonists, which are not exclusively the girl but also the dog, and nonetheless, the wind as it ruffles the hair and the dress of the girl. This subtlety of composition underscores the moment's enchantment, that time stand still, or is seized and that emptiness is fullness.
Geraldine Javier made a series of works that are inspired by scenes of movies or advertisements in popular magazine. The present work belongs to this category of work, which superbly demonstrates the artist's knack in telling the most with the most subtle. In explaining the present work, "When choosing an image for a painting, I'm usually guided by a feeling of familiarity, an echo of real and imagined experiences. In this particular painting, the image is originally from a fashion magazine shoot, inspired by the Wizard of Oz. By transposing the image of Dorothy and the dog and subsequently cropping the picture, the painting titled storm chasing dog chasing girl chasing storm, becomes a metaphor for a cycle. The futility of it all. An altogether incomprehensible pattern, that in some ways sum up the way most of us live our lives." (Artist's statement October 2006)
The characteristic enigmatic and dramatic elements which, is injected subtly by the artist is most readily seen with the present lot. A slightly oblique compositional axis is intended by the artist as she arranges the cropped figure in the midst of a swing of movement, almost dancing off the canvas. The intended sense of emptiness enhances the lure of the protagonists, which are not exclusively the girl but also the dog, and nonetheless, the wind as it ruffles the hair and the dress of the girl. This subtlety of composition underscores the moment's enchantment, that time stand still, or is seized and that emptiness is fullness.
Geraldine Javier made a series of works that are inspired by scenes of movies or advertisements in popular magazine. The present work belongs to this category of work, which superbly demonstrates the artist's knack in telling the most with the most subtle. In explaining the present work, "When choosing an image for a painting, I'm usually guided by a feeling of familiarity, an echo of real and imagined experiences. In this particular painting, the image is originally from a fashion magazine shoot, inspired by the Wizard of Oz. By transposing the image of Dorothy and the dog and subsequently cropping the picture, the painting titled storm chasing dog chasing girl chasing storm, becomes a metaphor for a cycle. The futility of it all. An altogether incomprehensible pattern, that in some ways sum up the way most of us live our lives." (Artist's statement October 2006)