At Galleria Duemila a harvest of paintings that intimate the nature of life

For the month of February, Galleria Duemila is proud to present a solo exhibition showcasing the latest works by Italy-based Lina Llaguno Ciani.

Working at of her studio located north of Rome, the Filipina artist has put together 14 individual paintings and a triptych whose delicate execution asserts once again her control of hand.

Her oils on canvas are filled with elements taken from the everyday life, items that many of us will regard as rather ordinary:  wild flowers, twigs, backchairs, pins, dried leaf, household receptacles. Ciani’s hand, however, would gather them and carefully arrange them on canvas where they become actors party to her luminous, surrealist visions.

In “Landscape with Blue Chair”, a backchair hangs from a tangle of rope, seconds from fall. In “Wonder Girl”, a gamine with an umbrella balances herself on a totem of river rocks at the edge of a plank. In “Subjects, Not Objects”, dried leaves, torn notes and flowers are held together by tape that is beginning to unravel. And there are the paintings with her personal leitmotif, an element that has made constant appearance on her work throughout these years: the egg: at times oversized or about to drop off from suspension or floating ominously in the horizon.

This collection of paintings follows a previous set executed more than a decade ago. “Memoria Infinita” was a series of works that too catches specific moments seen from dreams or memory. But what separates this set is the intensity of colour; be it cobalt or vermillon, they dominate the canvas and spray with a buoyancy that can only come with age and experience. “Before, my colors were quite muted,” Ciani says. “But now, I feel freer to let go of restraint.”

Such is the wisdom promised in these paintings. Even in the commonplace, they are there. As with these works, one must only look closely.

Galleria Duemila is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year and is the longest-running private gallery in the country.

“Twentyten” runs from 5 February 2011 to 1 March 2011 at Galleria Duemila, 210 Loring Street, Pasay City, Philippines.  Opening party is scheduled for February 5, 2011 at 4:00 PM

For more information, please contact, Thess Ponce or Kristal De Guzman of Galleria Duemila, Inc. through Tel. No. (+632) 831-9990 Telefax (+632) 833- 9815, e-mail: duemila@mydestiny.net