Joey P. Manlapaz

In my Reflections Series, I concentrate on glass windows of Washington, DC storefronts usually found in Dupont Circle, Georgetown, Capitol Hill, and Penn Quarter/Chinatown. Removing the “brick and mortar” context of the buildings, I closely crop the composition so I can concentrate only on the glass surface. My main interest is to heighten, and bring to the same level of focus as with a camera lens, all the aggregate shapes, forms, and various field depths on my canvas. Glass, being both reflective and translucent, does not show a single concrete image. Rather, its surface mirrors its surroundings and at the same time partially obscures the interior of the storefronts as if looking through a pool of water.

Like the mind that is filled with thoughts, sentiments, and life experiences, glass surfaces are equally packed with complex and multi-layered images. The resulting mysterious overlay of colors and forms is what I find supremely interesting – just as it is also the complex and idiosyncratic attributes of a person that make them rather fascinating!

I challenge the observer of my paintings with nothing but overlapping layers – some clear and straightforward and some faint and murky. In the stillness of the moment when one closely observes my work, since it is rather complicated, I like to encourage some psychological dialogue between the viewer and the viewed. What does the viewer see? The whole is made up of fragments. From which perspective is the viewed? Do the images actually exist and are real – or not and therefore are imagined? I like the viewer to come up close to my paintings to delve into the intricate details and also step back to understand the entire mirage.

The glass surface, like the subconscious, is never simple. It is only with close examination and analysis that one may succeed in understanding.

Submitted by Zenith Gallery