Joy Rojas wrestles with horses, heroes & saints
ArtistSpace, one of the premier art exhibition spaces in the Makati Central Business District, reopens on Feb. 21 after more than two years of closure due to the pandemic with “The Journey Continues,” a solo exhibition by Joy Rojas. Organized by Pinto Art Museum and supported by the Saturday Group, the show presents works the artist has created this past year. The show’s formal reception is slated for Feb. 22, to be graced by Alice Eduardo, Ching Cruz, Jaime Ponce de Leon, Ernest Escaler and other esteemed guests.
A practicing lawyer, Rojas presents a sweeping view of his artistry that spans a multitude of media—from paintings to sculptures to mixed media. The works, created during the pandemic, attest to the rich affinities that the artist has cultivated through the years. His love of travel and horses, his religiosity, his avid attention given to the textures of the world are offered to the viewer like gifts, generously given and filled with the ebullient heart and soul of their creator.
The artist’s generosity is exemplified by his deft and prodigious application of color onto the canvas, usually with a palette knife, with a keen sense of how tonalities and textures modulate mood and emotion. Vibrating with lavish impasto, his abstract works reveal a luminous sheen on roughened surfaces, implying movement and dynamism. While the energy of the works is hectic and coruscating, a prevailing softness infuses them, perhaps in the way that color and light shift subtly on the pictorial plane.
In some paintings, the abstraction is used as a framing device to highlight stenciled images of heroes and saints, with the passages of textures and marbling of pigments providing a visual accompaniment to the figures. These works mediate the artist’s contemplation of faith, religion, and art itself. The varieties of color and texture are matched by the different formats of the painting, from crosses to tondo (circular canvases) to French windows that wonderfully reveal an interior painting.
'The Journey Continues' may be seen as the artist’s way of looking back at his creative forays and establishing a point from where he will bring his vision further.
While his paintings are rough-hewn, his sculptures have a sleek, smooth surface, with a handful depicting a father and a daughter, which is an inversion of the traditional genre of mother and child. This bond is also present between a lady and her horse, such as in the artist’s homage to Lady Godiva. These sculptural works speak of tenderness, play, and unadorned affection.
A highlight of the exhibition is the work “Seven Graces,” a collaboration of Rojas with fellow members of the Saturday Group, who are Roel Obemio, Lydia Velasco, Buds Concovar, Anna de Leon, Omi Reyes, and Migs Villanueva. Each makes a representation of one of the Seven Graces, their respective styles commingling in a visual symphony, celebrating art, beauty, and thoughtful friendship.
“The Journey Continues” may be seen as the artist’s way of looking back at his creative forays and establishing a point from where he will bring his vision further. While not a retrospective, the exhibition offers the viewer a good sampling of the works of Rojas in their eloquent fluency of material, style, and theme. Ultimately, the exhibition affirms the life-giving capacity of art especially in these times, casting a generous glow on the road as the artist’s journey proceeds.
“The Journey Continues” runs until March 6. ArtistSpace is located at the ground level of Ayala Museum Annex, Makati Avenue corner De La Rosa Street, Greenbelt Park, Makati City. For details, contact Jenny Villanueva at +632 8697 1015 or pintoartmuseum@yahoo.com.