In Marina Cruz’s works, both the method of display and the individual images operate simultaneously on several different levels. She is predisposed in each exhibition to use her diverse collection of antique, nominal, and semantic material in such a way as to bring into attention some characteristic of painterly representation. The astute presentational tactics; the devices of display and the source of her imagery; the recollection of events in her family history and the history of her depicted objects, pile the many layers in Marina Cruz that are waiting to be surfaced and understood. For this reason, not withstanding her intentionally nostalgic use of old things and old lives, we suitably recognize Cruz’s practice as a meticulously contemporary one, primarily concerned with the conflicting nature of the painted object and the actual event behind it: the visibility and invisibility of its subject; the simultaneously physical and yet ethereal nature of the painted image.
There’s a flair of a simultaneously tangible but untouchable presence felt in the photographs uncovered by Cruz and her grandmother from more than fifty years ago which serve as the source for her paintings. She deals with the stories of survival and recapture of the dresses of her twin mother and aunt which she summons in her exploration of the life and after-life that inhabits these objects. Her painting process, like one’s memory, is often faintly trailed, recognizable under her elusive lexis of portraiture.
About the artist
Born in 1982, Marina Cruz graduated cum laude from the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts where she is currently finishing her MA in Art Education. She has shown prominently in several exhibitions in Manila and internationally. In 2007, she won both the grand prize of the Philippine Art Awards and the Ateneo Art Awards which gave her the opportunity to attend a fellowship at La Trobe University’s Visual Arts Center in the same year. She was also awarded the Freeman Fellowship at the Vermont Studio Center in 2008.
Education
2003
Bachelor of Fine Arts Major in Painting, University of the Philippines.
Best Thesis and cum laude College of Fine Arts, University of the Philippines
Solo Exhibitions
2015
Wear and Tear, Mind Set Art Center, Taipei, Taiwan
2014
Fabric Skin, Art Informal, Mandaluyong, Philippines
Dolled up, Art Fair Philippines 2014, Makati, Philippines
2012
In the House of Memory, Mind Set Art Center, Taipei, Taiwan
Inside/Out, BenCab Museum, Baguio, Philippines
2011
Forget me not, West Gallery, Quezon City, Philippines
2009
Spontaneous Moments, The Drawing Room, Makati, Philippines
Un/Fold, Ateneo Art Gallery, Quezon City, Philippines
Home is the place that you will leave, The Drawing Room at CIGE China
International Gallery Exposition, Beijing, China
2008
Open House, The Drawing Room, Makati, Philippines
Embroidered Landscapes, Main Gallery, La Trobe Visual Arts Center, Australia
Lest you forget, Boston Gallery, Cubao, Quezon City, Philippines
Resollections, Art Informal, Mandaluyong, Philippines
2007
Dollhouse, Art Informal, Mandaluyong, Philippines
2005
Kambal, Boston Gallery, Cubao, Quezon City, Philippines
Selected Group Exhibitions
2014
Woman-Home:In the Name of Asian Female Artists, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
BODY AND NARRATOR SILVERLENS Gallery, Manila, Philippines
2013
The Philippines Contemporary: To Scale the Past and the Possible, curated by Patrick D. Flores. Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Manila, Philippines
2011
BISA: Potent Presences, Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Manila, Philippines
2010 Simple Depictions, Total Gallery, Alliance Francaise de Manille, Manila, Philippines
Looking Back, Drawing Room and Ark Galerie, Jakarta, Indonesia
2009
Daloy Exhibition, CCP Cultural Center of the Philippines, Manila, Philippines
Cloud Cuckoo Land, Boston Gallery, Quezon City, Philippines
2008
Sentimental Value, SOKA Art Center, Beijing, China
Uncommon Grounds, West Gallery, Quezon City, Philippines
Strange Familiarities, Familiar Strangers, Alliance Francaise de Manille, Manila, Philippines
2007
Sungduan 4: Extensions, Museum of Three Cultures, Capitol University, CDO, Philippines
Tampu+Lapuk: Contributions to Teracotta, 2nd Dumaguete Teracotta Bienale, Philippines
2006
A/P: Analogue Playground, Ateneo Art Gallery, Ateneo de Manila University, Manila, Philippines
2005
Armour, Corredor Gallery, UP College of Fine Arts, University of the Philippines, Manila, Philippines
2004
Babaylan@Kasibulan.net, Cultural Center of the Philippines, Manila, Philippines
Gamit, The Edge, Up Jorge Vargas Museum, University of the Philippines, Manila, Philippines
2003
Buod: Celebration of the Year of the Family, NCCA National Commission for Culture and the Arts, Manila, Philippines
2002
Trap Doors False Buttons, West Gallery, Quezon City, Philippines
Toys, Ayala Museum, Makati, Philippines
Awards
2012
Winner of the 2012 Thirteen Artists Award
2008
Grand Prize Winner, Philippine Art Awards, Philip Morris
One of the 3 Winners Ateneo Art Awards: Zones of Influence
Shortlisted for 3 Exhibits Ateneo Art Awards
2007
One of the 10 Finalist for NCR National Capital Region Philippine Art Awards
Philip Morris
2006
Shortlisted Ateneo Art Awards: Outbound
2004
Juror’s Choise GSIS Painting Competition
2003
Semi-Finalist Philippine Art Awards, Philip Morris
2000
Semi-Finalist Metrobank Young Painter’s Annual Art Competition
Finalist, Shell Student Art Competition
Semi-Finalist Nokia: Modern Art Asia Pacific [National Level]
Artist Residency
March-April 2008
Asian Fellowship Grant, Sponsored by Freeman Foundation Vermont Studio Art Center, USA
October 9-25, 2008
Artist Residency Grant From La Trobe Visual Arts Center La Trobe University, Bendigo, Australia
About the exhibition
Dates: 01/10/2015 - 02/07/2015
Venue: Mind Set Art Center
Courtesy of the artist and Mind Set Art Center.
