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April 23, 2010

MS. MARIKA B. CONSTANTINO

 

Demosthenes Campos
Flow
Masterpiece Gallery, Trinoma Mall
July 17 – July 30, 2010

Action and reaction, ebb and flow, trial and error, change – this is the rhythm of living. Out of our over-confidence, fear; out of our fear, clearer vision, fresh hope. And out of hope, progress.
Bruce Barton

Demosthenes Campos’ forays in his neighbourhood inspired him to create his mixed media collection in Flow. The puddles, leaks and drips he witnessed in his strolls caught his wandering and wondering eye. He used the pools, droplets, or streams of murky and clear water he encountered as take-off points for his abstractions.

This visual anthology also motivated him to experiment with various methods, medium, materials and processes. From graphite squiggles to silvery foils, from splashes of stain to blobs of texture – seeping through the ground are pieces that access our inner being. The resultant outputs invite viewers to enter another realm of consciousness.

Interestingly enough, Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi, a Hungarian psychology professor, theorized “that people are most happy when they are in a state of flow— a state of concentration or complete absorption with the activity at hand and the situation.” He further portrays it as a “state where attention, motivation, and the situation meet, resulting in a kind of productive harmony.”

This experience is manifested when confronted with Campos’ work. One is touched with sense of balance and calm. The various elements on the surface integrate with each other resulting into a whole that compels one to reach into their inner being. The number of details on each artwork do not clog or obstruct the viewer’s perception, rather it frees one’s sensibilities to another plane of realization. The ethereal engagement is soothing to both sight and mind.

Without a doubt, there is a lot more to abstract art than what meets the eye. Campos’ works are visual testaments of this. Beyond the canvas and references from reality, his abstractions afford a continuum to a pleasant state of existence.