MANILA, Philippines – For many centuries, love is something that people have tried to define. But to this day, it remains difficult to define it that even what the dictionary offers is sometimes not enough. Some have attempted to express it through letters, while others have tried to apply it as the theme of their artworks.
“Paintings about love have always been created since time immemorial,” begins Kimberly Rocha, Yellow Door Gallery owner. Yellow Door Gallery, together with Power Plant Mall, presents Love Letters, an exhibition that revisits an age-old tradition of courtship and writing letters. The exhibit will run until Feb. 20.
Love letters were an important form of communication between couples and Kimberly believes that the art of writing love letters is becoming obsolete in today’s generation. Having this in mind, she asked the participating artists to create a painting that would convey what a love letter might express. She wanted them to be truthful and sincere in painting that side of love. The paintings were done using Crane & Co. stationery, which Kimberly herself bought, and she had them shipped from the US to the Philippines. It was the first stationery brand that came to her mind as it had a heritage that she knew many would be familiar with.
“A love letter is very private and meant for only one set of eyes to see. So I wanted to have the exhibit sort of confront that,” she shares. “Obviously, these love letters, or love paintings, are not private. Each probably has no specific person being addressed to. I wanted to see how the artists’ specific ‘love messages’ would speak to a general public.” Kimberly gladly informs that most of the people who purchased pieces in the collection were giving the paintings to their loved ones as gifts. “Something about love was specifically painted by the artist and the artwork spoke to someone particularly. And that someone now would like to convey this specifically to someone else.” That gives Kimberly the thumbs up that the goal of this exhibit is being attained.
Kimberly furthers that it is very interesting for her to have something as abstract as love be translated visually. “I think the artists did a fascinating job in taking on that challenge,” she says. She purposely congregated artists with diverse styles not just in execution but in what she perceived their thought processes were like in the creation of their respective art pieces.
Being in love is an experience like no other. The artists who participated in the Love Letters exhibit show you just why.