Aftermath with Lara delos Reyes

We’ve all been there.  Had one of those nights that began innocuously enough.  Jokes got funnier as the evening went on.  Voices raised a few decibels louder to make oneself heard amidst the babble. You just had to make a toast to the song playing.  And that one more beer for the road seemed to multiply til another case had to be sent out for.   When exactly the pleasant buzz turned the party into a string of vertiginous events we will try and figure out tomorrow, when the sun penetrates the stupor and forces us, eyes squinting in resistance, to

To The Novice and To The Timid by Lara delos Reyes

finally wake.

Ceramic crushed beer cans installation

In her first solo show, Lara delos Reyes recreates the fallout from an alcohol-fueled spree  in a refreshing, carefree, nonchalant manner.   Within the tight confines of Mag: net at The Columns in Ayala Avenue, one feels part of the fun.  The installation in the loft upstairs sets the tone:  about 100 crushed ceramic beer cans scattered and spread on the floor, on the shelves, gathered in a pile on the corner, lightheartedly deliberate.  She paints in deeper and richer colors than she has used in the past, capturing unguarded moments just as we would with digital cameras passed around the party.  She gives her figures a subtle glow that reminds me a bit (just a bit!) of

Ceramic crushed beer cans, detail

Chinese artist Feng Zhengjie’s portraits.  Yet, in a throwback to the manner of earlier portraiture techniques, she shapes her canvases oval, and puts two of her pieces  in ornate, wooden, bleached frames.   In this era of Facebook, when we let our lives out for all to see, she protects her subjects’ vulnerability, turning their faces to preserve their anonymity.

The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Lara de los Reyes, 4 February to 2 March 2009, Mag:net at The Columns,  Ayala Avenue, Makati City (632)929-3191 or  www.magnetgalleries.com

Mag:net at The Columns with Lara's show