Nostalgia II presents Gregory Ray Halili’s latest watercolor miniatures featuring women, butterflies and orchids. They make up the memories that move Halili to continue showing his appreciation of the culture he was born into. Living abroad has only made him realize how precious these memories are. Nostalgia II is on view at the West Gallery in SM Megamall from June 27 to July 9.
Past experience is the driving force that sparks Halili’s art, particularly that of his early recollection of home. “The essence of remembering is the catalyst for most of my inspirations,” says Halili, who also has concurrent exhibitions at the Nancy Hoffman Gallery in New York and at the Artists’ House Gallery in Philadelphia. The inspirations include portraits of women in traditional clothing and his butterfly series. He also features orchids in picture-perfect landscapes, as he does in “Orchid Festival (Blue Version)”. It’s his way of translating the memories he has culled from his travels, old photographs and recollections. Halili sees the past as the “very foundation of my work and the beginning of my creative process.” The paintings present a glimpse of Halili’s roots, of which he is very proud, as well as a preview to his ongoing artistic journey. Through every step, he has always wanted to share what he is doing with his fellow Filipinos back home. Inspired by Malang, Halili has begun creating his own women paintings, presenting the Filipina as delicate and enigmatic as he has always seen her.
Choosing to show his heritage in postage-stamp size miniature, Halili almost takes us into a world that’s long gone. The enchanting, dream-like quality is preserved as we literally inch closer to see what Halili has in store in works like “Serenading the Moon” and “Night Jewel”. He sees the approach as his way of representing and manifesting a world that seems so distant yet so clear in detail, just as clearly as he fondly remembers such scenes from childhood. “It’s the physical fragility and intimacy that presents a magnet, attracting the viewer closer into my world,” Halili says of his preference for miniatures. Painting allows him to escape New York’s fast and furious pace and enter a “haven where he can reminisce, dream and relive the beauty (of Philippine culture) that once was and still is”. And he invites his viewers to do just and realize how beautiful it is to be home.
Halili was born in Manila in 1975. He took fine arts from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and has since exhibited in New York, Arkansas, Philadelphia and Washington DC. Once listed in “Who’s Who Among American Students,” Halili, in his young yet very colorful and accomplished painting career, has also received citations from the Art Institute of New Jersey and the United Nations Postal Administration.
Documentation
