the gallery of maria pureza escano
A REVIEW OF ESCANO's WORKS by MICHELA TURRA, ART CRITIC, TIA
"When people asked me how I learnt to paint, I cannot give them a precise answer... I never took art classes... Though I do know why I learnt to paint... I feel a strong attraction to beauty." So says Maria Pureza Escano about herself, a self-taught artist with clear, multi-faceted inspiration and undeniable taste for beauty. It may be because of the Philippines (her home country) which she holds in her heart, with its intense landscapes; it may be because of her 360 degrees love for art, from cinema to literature (she has published poetry and short stories), but her canvases emanate a great feeling of freedom, as if it were possible to move with maximum nonchalance from a flower in a field to Audrey Hepburn's grace as two unique elements in our universe.
In her paintings, Maria Pureza Escano renders life's simplicity and greatness, and she does it well, in a detailed and technically skilled way. By carefully choosing her colours, she distributes them, dosing out tones and shades, as in "Sisters, where all the shades of brown are explored in harmony to make up an allusive yet precise fresco of the feminine. Or in "Tree at Sunset Hill", where more colours are used to depict a great tree with intertwined branches and the nearby pool, in a surreal very captivating style.
As a symbolist, this painter never spares herself in her art; on the contrary, she investigates with true sincerity the many aspects of living, especially those closer to the feminine, showing great ability in her figurative art, in her representation of the body, but also expressing herself masterfully in wider interpretations, precisely those of a symbolic and surreal nature. A previous New York exhibition has gained her well-deserved success, the fruit of her talent, passion, faith and trust in life.
Michela Turra
Art Critic, TIA