Hero
BY JACKIE HONTIVEROS LOZANO
March 16-25, 2018
Manila House Private Club
Bonifacio Global City
ABOUT THE EXHIBIT
Hero considers what images of faith could look like, liberated from the weight of dogma and tradition. It invites us to re-imagine our icons — ordinarily precious, untouchable, and unmoving — as vital, animated, and full of emotion, champions for this generation, possibly across generations.
Human struggles and ideals are embodied by figures — raw, exaggerated, and dramatic. Stripped of regalia and oftentimes gender, the language of the body articulates narratives of strength, energy, and endurance.
The exhibit is a sacred space for contemplating a faith system drawn from the events of our own lives. Through imagery of deep feeling and experience, more human, more personal, more like us — we are asked, challenged: if our heroes are more like us, perhaps, we can be more like them.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
For her first solo exhibition, Jackie Hontiveros Lozano or ikaj as she is called in her art practice, reveals a lifelong search for answers that traverses a traditional Catholic upbringing, liberal arts education, and personal experience.
After obtaining her degree in Visual Communication from UP Diliman College of Fine Arts, a brief apprenticeship laid the foundations for her art practice in classical oil technique and painting from life. Tracing a path through advertising, design, and teaching, ikaj began painting full time in 2013 — producing the collections Glimpses, Universe, Anonymous, Sea of Dreams, and Nudes. She continues to receive numerous commissions for portraits in her Anonymous style, an approach characterized by lightness and depth achieved through quickly layered palette knife strokes.
ikaj’s influences include Egon Schiele, Kent Williams, and contemporary philosopher Alain de Botton, himself a hero for art’s didactic role in society. She is fascinated by exaggerated, expressive, and contorted body forms, the bold, flowing line work of pencil sketches, and the layering techniques of oil. She is working towards a personal style that embodies these qualities — a style she describes as figurative, illustrative, abstract, and chaotic — depicting subjects drawn from her experiences, recurring memories, and imagination. Her search for answers continues.
For enquiries on available work, please email jackie@ikajpaintings.com