ANDRES Barrioquinto signals a shift in his trademark portraiture in Squalor of the Mind, running at the West Gallery on West Avenue, QC until July 17.
From cartoonish, nearly gothic close-ups of people, Barrioquinto’s portraits have become lifelike, almost photographic. And from the usual browns and neutral colors, the color palette has become more diverse, even bright and pulsating.
Which should not mean that the gothic mood has been discarded. The collection still reeks of dark pessimism. Although his art has become more photographic, Barrioquinto’s style remains expressionistic, his graphic and pictorial strengths serving to serve the ends of psychological depictions of alienation and estrangement.
“The visages depicted in his paintings belong to the people we meet every day, and sometimes trust our lives with, these are the individuals who continue to deceive us with fake helping hands and false emotional epigrams,” said Dave Lock, a friend of Barrioquinto.
Barrioquinto used a flock of butterfly to cover the head of a boy in the oil-on-canvas “Medusa.” The boy’s face is divided into two, dark and light sides, which consist of illuminating outlines of skulls on the left side and butterflies on the right.
The two faces of human nature signify good inclinations and wicked desires. The shades of blue in the background expose serenity behind conflicting obscurities.
Meanwhile, “The Colossus” depicts a man wearing an empty wide smile that complements his sharp-looking eyes. The setting plays with vigorous patterns of birds surrounding the man’s head, as if disclosing something, like truth covered with a deceitful appearance. The work boasts of artistic patterns and inventive distribution of colors that tones down the negative ambiance of the man’s deceiving outlook.
Lastly, in “Three Thousand Sins,” the rich adornment camouflages inner squalor as the lively flowers seem to mask the face’s person’s depraved agenda.
Overall, the exhibit forces the viewer to see behind the facade of the face: a kindly mien may not at all be that kind. Ana May R. Dela Cruz
