Art Talks

Tokens of Red Roses

Roses, especially if red, have been attributed to the feminine through many aspects in history and society. To gather women artists and devote an exhibition dedicated to womanhood would indeed result to collective consciousness that surfaces through red roses. In Laura Britt-Fermo’s “Light and Crystals”, the still-life piece about the multi-faceted crystal ware and lighted candle would not be balanced if not for the token of red roses at the foreground. As for Maxine Syjuco’s “Strange Fruit”, her collage of images and drippings of paint becomes more precisely a “bouquet of images” with the help of the deepest coloured element which is the red rose against the predominantly cream and a few pink tones of the other objects. Meanwhile in abstract form, Gabi Nazareno’s “Pulse II” pays tribute to the boldness and richness of red within a circular frame, alluding also to the rose if not the blood or heart. It seems so, in different visual languages, the beauty of the red rose – the woman’s counterpart; has been sung, whispered, and screamed.