Stages

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A work of art is above all an adventure of the mind. ~ Eugene Ionesco (1912-), Romanian-born French Playwright

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COFFEE PAINTINGS VIEWED IN STAGES

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Sunshine Plata’s now extended stint at the Power Plant Mall in Makati City showcases her works in stages of progression in her craft and the ideas she has to consolidate on her drawing board. While in the middle of yet a more focused theme on Vintages, a collection she has started to grow in her quiet yet aromatic studio, she managed to present a body of work that collectively defines the stages she has undergone as a coffee painter.

Here then are some of the works she brought to the Power Plant Mall at the Rockwell Center for everyone to view and wonder about how coffee can capture anything she ideates.

Lilypond Lyrics 1 (top frame), 11 x 7 inches and Lilypond Lyrics 2 (bottom frame), also 11 x 7 inches.  There is a certain allure pond creatures exude that the artist has just embraced and how she aptly secured them in this oval frame, as an eye, where she brushed exquisite patterns on the edges while they are still.

A play-up on memories, the artist paints celebrations experienced and then imagined steaming up from a cup of coffee. Looking Back 50 Years (left frame), 11 x 17 inches and Guitar Man (right frame), 11 x 17 inches, both depict how life’s occasions linger in each of us.

Heroines, goddesses, fairies, all don the qualities of beauty, power and compassion in a mix not understood by mere mortals but have ventured to, nonetheless, by humanizing some of their aspects, as signified by what we have read in books or hear and see through various forms of media. Transcendent still is the more spiritual grasp and the exercise of faith one is blessed to have found and experienced. The artist cannot be dispossessed of allusions of what is divine for as she creates, she is also a creation. Protectress of the Unborn (left frame), 15 x 22 inches and Lady of Japan (right frame), 15 x 22 inches, are two figures standing tall at the exhibit.

And dreams are from where everything else started. Surreal, enchanting, or hilarious, dreams are what drives this artist to keep moving on, to pick up her brushes and have a good time with coffee. Reminiscent of her first solo LSD exhibit, her dreams are painted on paper, brushed, stroked, washed, and then dried. And those dreams got her this far already. Moving on in stages, but not totally abandoning her dreamy phase, the artist — the coffee painter — keeps looking forward and is learning, continuously, from everything she encounters along the way.  An Expedition to Neverland (top-left frame), 14 x 10 inches; Deep Slumber in the Valley of Dreams 2 (bottom-left frame), 14 x 10 inches; and Une Recontre Timide de l’Enchanté (A Timid Encounter, right frame), 15 x 22 inches, all confirm and signify dreams.

Pag-asa (Hope), 30 x 22 inches, is the seal that marks each one’s dreams that things shall go well. It is part of the series of paintings on coffee farmers and serves as an encouragement to support our local coffee farmers and the industry, as well.

Sunshine Plata is very pleased and grateful to those who have gone to the MANILA MIRRORS exhibit to view and experience her coffee paintings. Her Coffee Painting Workshop at the Archaeology site was totally a success. From the initial list of 30 kids who have signed up for the workshop, around 70 actually arrived on the day. Workshop attendees included, not just kids but also teens, professionals, parents and grandparents.

To those who have not gone yet, you are all invited. Her coffee paintings will be shown until September 13th.

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