the gallery of maria pureza escaño
Maria Pureza Escano's Works Trailblaze Manila's Sacredness of Life Art Collective
July 14, 2009
The figurative and surreal art of Philippine-based international artist Maria Pureza Escaño will be the main feature of the Sacredness of Life collective exhibition to be held from July 17 – August 4, 2009 at the FPOP Bldg, New Manila, Quezon City, Philippines.
Spearheaded by the Family Planning Organization of the Philippines, “Sacredness of Life” gears to promote and uphold life’s sanctity and clear the organization’s stand about the rights of the unborn.
Among Escaño’s works which will be featured are three of of her newest paintings – “Sunchild”, “Madonna of the Lake” and “Madre dei desideri.”
The fundraising exhibit will also showcase the paintings and installation art of veteran stage and movie actor Ernie Garcia and the art of three of the country’s most talented emerging artists Julius Legaspi, Anton Pelobello and Mian Sta. Cruz (photography). Also participating in the collective are Nannette Yatco, Lorenz Yatco (photography) and Rolando Talag.
Director Edgar Fernandez of the National Commission of Culture and the Arts will officially open the art collective.
Escaño’s growing reputation in the global art scene as a notable figurative and surreal artist followed after the phenomenal success of two shows she joined at New York’s Ico Gallery in March and April 2009. Her well-received figurative art which are characterized by soulful and lighthearted subjects and scenes are reminiscent of her classical and impressionist exposure while her surreal art features evocative dreamscapes in vibrant patches of colors either in languid almost sinuous brushstrokes or in geometric stained-glass-looking shapes – a style uniquely her own yet universal in appeal.
Escaño has been recently commissioned by the All-Japan Seamen’s Union to paint a mural for their new hotel in Cebu City. She is scheduled to have a one-man show in October 2009 at the Bliss Gallery at Hotel Elizabeth in Baguio City and a first international solo exhibit at Ico Gallery – Chelsea in April 2010.
Part of the proceeds of “The Sacredness of Life” exhibit will go to the Family Planning Organization of the Philippines and UNICEF. Maria Pureza Escaño is represented by Ico Gallery-New York, Dekada Arts-Philippines, Sining Kamalig Gallery and ARTASIA.
http://artzeal.wordpress.com/2009/07/14/maria-pureza-escanos-works-trailblaze-manila-sacredness-of-life-art-collective/
Maria Pureza Escano, An Artist of the Soul
The Art Catalyst
July 14, 2009
It was only by a serendipitous accident that we discovered this fresh new artist from the Philippines. By some stroke of fickle fate, the art event which we really planned to attend that night in March was cancelled. We were already in Tribeca so why not drop by Ico Gallery instead? They were opening this “New Motions of the Figure” exhibit where they will feature the works of sculptor Blake Ward along with other artists from around the globe.
Ico Gallery was full. There were some media around. We circled that night’s collection and we were transfixed by a face of a girl hanging on the wall. There were butterflies fluttering across her face. A simple yet arresting composition. “Winged Friends” is just one of Maria Pureza Escaño’s works which best represents the character of her art. Pure, unassuming, soulful, her works give the viewer a glimpse of life’s simple but profound essences. We listened to the buzz of the crowd and sure enough, the works of the Filipina artist had the same effect on them.
What we like about Maria’s art is that it reminded us of what real art should be. Her art do not seek to impress through painstakingly studied techniques but are nevertheless impressive because they seem to spring spontaneously from an irrepressively hopeful heart. Viewing her art rewards one’s soul with new inspirations to see beauty in even the most ordinary of life’s occurences.
Fionna McBride/ The Art Catalyst/ New York
http://artzeal.wordpress.com
The Asian Journal: Filipino artist takes a "surrealistic" bite of the Big Apple
People and Events, p 14
by Dennis Clemente
NEW YORK— Where else can you find the tonic you need to scrape off the weary edges of this city but online?
Technology paved the way for Maria Pureza Escaño, Philippine-based painter, to come out of semi-retirement and come all over to New York to meet Ico Gallery owner Dalia Chako and curator Skylor Brummans. The latter discovered her online and invited her to join other international artists in a group show last March.
“We think Escaño’s works have a unique sensitivity and delicate nature with an angelic perspective that we find very appealing and make us think of faraway worlds and beautiful dreams,” Chako was quoted as saying at the exhibit.
From that first big break, Escaño wasted no time in participating in another exhibit at the same gallery. The abstract/surreal group exhibit titled “Collide” runs from May 8 to 28.
From a body of work that consists of realistic and figurative paintings, the Filipino artist this time is expanding her range with surrealistic works.
“I want to inspire young Filipino artists to believe in themselves,” she says.
The self-taught artist has come a long way. From a small town in Quezon Province in the Philippines to New York, her second exhibit will be at the same famed art and music gallery, Ico Gallery in Soho, where she had her first exhibit last March. It was reportedly also a first for the Ico Gallery to feature the works of a Filipino artist.
Escaño is coming from a long hiatus in the art scene. Her last exhibit was in 2002 with a group of friends in Quezon Province. She stopped painting and concentrated on working for a design agency and not long after that, got married and became busy with family life.
Now she is back in the thick of it, thanks to Chako and Brummans who stumbled on her personal website and offered to represent her in the Big Apple.
The result was her first exhibit in a group show titled “New Motions of the Figure” just last March. In the show, she joined other celebrated international artists Ned Martin, Jean Dorch, Nelly Drell, Kevin McKrell, John Boe Paulsen and Blake.
“I love doing art so much that I do not see making them as work. It is rather an answer to that need inside my soul to celebrate life. My art is my praise to God,” she adds
Escaño started painting at the age of nine after seeing the works of the French impressionists--Claude Monet’s La Promenade, Edouard Manet’s Le Chemin de Fer and Edgar Degas’ The Rehearsal. “It was like a religious experience for me,” she says.
Her exposure to these works at such an early age compelled her to take up brush and easel and make a name for herself in the Philippine art world, particularly in her hometown of Sariaya, Quezon, located south of Manila.
The petite artist traces the inspiration of her idyllic, pastoral works and children captured in light-hearted moods to her upbringing in her hometown in Sariaya where the rich and vibrant culture of her Filipino-Spanish-American influences bore fruit.
“In my hometown, there was a park called Atienza’s Park, with its once-flourishing meadows and trees, that played such a critical role in my creative yearnings,” she remembers fondly.
The goal is to share with the audience a sense of beauty and peace in the works. “I want them to leave with a lightness of soul after viewing my work,” she adds.
In her second New York exhibit, Escaño joins fellow artists Susane Adame, Tedd Barr, Annie Frasier, Colin Kilian, Rhoma Mostel, Karin Perez, Marina Reiter, Michael Schmotzer and Davor Vukovic.
Unfortunately, Escaño will not be able to be physically present in New York for her second exhibit, as she is busy finishing a 4x2-meter mural titled “Beachcombers at the Cebu Channel” in the Philippines for the All Japan Seamen’s Union and which will be hanged at the new Mariners’ Court in Cebu City, Philippines.
To view her works for her New York exhibit, visit http://icogallery.com. Her other works can also be viewed at her personal website, http://puchetteescano.weebly.com
ABS CBN: Pinay Painter Holds First International Exhibit in New York
By LENN ALMADIN-THORNHILL, ABS-CBN North America News Bureau | 03/17/2009 11:09 AM
A self-taught Filipina painter, Maria Pureza Escano, has her first international exhibit at the Ico Gallery in Tribeca, New York.
Considered as one of the most promising artists in Manila and known in the Philippine art scene for her realism renditions of rustic scenes in oil, acrylic and watercolor, Escano was chosen to participate in the group show “New Motions of the Figure” which runs from March 5 to March 28.
“It was the unique sensitivity and delicate nature of her work. It was an angelic perspective on life we thought was very unique. Now I can see why. She is as angelic and delicate as her work,” said Dalia Chako, owner of the Ico Gallery.
Escano, a mother of two young kids, was born in Sariaya, Quezon, where she said her love for soft colors and painting nature came from.
But these images were inspired by something else.
“Childhood memories, the settings of stories I read growing up, classics like Jane Austen and Charles Dickens,” said Escano. "I paint what my heart's eye sees. Whatever that is true and fine and beautiful that moves my soul in God's good earth."
Her works are a big hit not only for the most discerning art patrons but with regular folks as well.
Terry Mattia, a gallery guest from Belleville, New Jersey, remarked “Maria’s work comes straight from her heart. It’s what’s in her heart she puts out on canvas.”
Meanwhile, Escano’s new fans will have another chance to see her other works because the Ico Gallery invited her to show her surreal paintings this May.(abs-cbnnews.com)
Business Mirror: Pinay Painter Debuts in New York
Life
Written by Rikki Jimemez
March 17, 20009
Filipina painter Maria Pureza Escaño stages her first international exhibit at the Ico Gallery in Tribeca, New York. The exhibit is ongoing until March 28. Escaño was invited to participate in the realism and figurative group show New Motions of the Figure, which also features the works of international artists Blake Ward (Canada), John Boe Paulsen (US), Kevin McKrell (US), Ned Martin (US), Nelly Drell (Estonia) and Jean Dorch (US). New Motions of the Figure is curated by Skylor Brummans.
Located at 27 North Moore Street at the upscale area of Tribeca, New York, Ico Gallery, a music and art gallery, was founded by artist Dalia Chako, her husband David and their son Skylor Brummans. From its beginnings in 2004, this gallery has become one of the most popular art spaces in New York catering to the discriminating taste of international art connoisseurs and critics. Escaño is the first Filipina who was invited to show her works there. self-taught artist, Escaño’s was born in Sariaya, Quezon, a town from which she sources the birth of her creative soul with its dreamy and colorful vistas and its rich culture of Fil-American-Hispanic infusions.
Gaining recognition in the Philippine art scene for her masterful renditions in various media, Escaño’s work has been ranked along with the great American impressionists, and her themes, universal in essence, are considered a bold deviation from the common impression of what is Filipino art. Her profile in Art Slant New York is currently one of the most popular sites in this network.
When asked about what inspires her work, she answers, "Art is my answer to that need inside my soul to reproduce what I see with my heart’s eye, that need to hold something raw and use it to celebrate the richness of life and whatever moves my soul in God’s good earth."
Incidentally, Escaño will be exhibiting in another show at the same New York gallery this May. Collide, a group exhibition of surreal works, will run from May 5 to 29, and will showcase the works of Escaño, Tedd Barr, Susane Adame, Colin Kilian, Annie Fraser, Marina Reiter, Michael Schmotzer and Davor Vukovic.Escaño’s works can be viewed at her web site puchetteescano.weebly.com. ( BusinessMirror)
Design News: Filipina Art Goes to New York
EXHIBITION ANNOUNCEMENT
27 North Moore Street
America
05 March – 28 March 2009
Filipina painter, Maria Pureza Escano, will have her first international exhibit at the ICO Gallery in Tribeca, New York..
Pureza will be participating in the group show, “New Motions of the Figure”, a realism show which shall also feature the works of Blake Ward, John Boe Paulsen, Kevin McKrell, Ned Martin, Nelly Drell and Jean Dorch.
Maria Pureza Escaño, a self-taught artist, was born in Sariaya, Quezon, a town from which she sources the birth of her creative soul with its dreamy and colorful vistas and its rich culture of Fil-American-Hispanic infusions.
Known in the Philippine art scene for her excellent realism renditions of rustic scenes in oil, acrylic and watercolor and the sinuous quality of her abstract works, Pureza is considered as one of the most promising artists in Manila.
Buds Convocar, President of the Art Association of the Philippines describes her paintings as “can be ranked with the great American impressionists” while Dekada Arts, an online gallery, considers her style as “a bold deviation from the common impression of what is Filipino.” (Design Taxi.com News)