theSpace at ArtInformal

Marina Cruz-Garcia

In her second solo exhibit "Dollhouse" at Art Informal, Marina Cruz reconstructs her childhood notions of territorial space and play with an invitation to her dollhouse. She recreates sheltered and intimate compartments with her representations of toys and doll images collaged with patches of pastel colors, unrestrained line drawings, and rhythmic textures from patterns of speckles, drippings, variegated lines and peculiar shapes that consider spatial peripheries and attempt to contain the passage of time into a single, sustained moment of child-like perception.

Marina's unvarnished canvases, with her staunch use of elements, surface treatments, and uncluttered compositions are at once straightforward and ethereal. Her works create a precondition of a contemplative mental state and a wall space reserved for a moment of reflection on treasured memories of innocent times past.

-text by Salvador Joel Alonday

In her 3rd solo exhibition, Recollections, artist Marina Cruz-Garcia once again explores the theme of memory. She delves into poignant but jettisoned memories of her relations, recreating them on canvas with new and realized significance to deliver an intimate contribution in family history. Each piece retells a story through Marina's perspective. Whether lonely or charming, sweet or bittersweet, the records Marina narrates become shaped into her own. Tinted in a brown glaze that induces an air of nostalgia, the works offer an expressive disclosure of reminiscences that touch upon Marina's circle of loved ones.

-text by Clarissa Olizon Chikiamco-