ArtTitudes

One Foot in Heaven One Foot on Earth

an exhibition of paintings by Xante Gabriela

A colorful woman, from a colorful family, who has led a colorful life; the Irish-English artist Xante Gabriela, like the above Daoist description of the state of human existence, is a study in mysterious contrasts. Her art is decidedly influenced by classical European painters like Caravaggio and Rembrandt, who excelled in the use of shadow and light to create mystery and pathos. While her subject matter, also like the old masters, inevitably revolves around the human body, her subject mater belongs more to the East and its ancient spiritual traditional.

In her latest series of canvases using an experimental technique mixing egg tempera and oil paints, she dazzles her audience with a series of images depicting a young Indonesian man and girl at prayer. As in Man Praying I, her subjects seem to float against dark moody backgrounds exuding an inner glow that suggest peace. With outstretched palms he holds a white shawl, perhaps a symbol of purity or a sacred gift, before him. We can sense peace and surrender, not as in defeat but as in the gracious acceptance of reality.

In an age when many iconoclasts declare the old arts – literature, painting, sculpture and live music redundant if not irrelevant, Xante stands out as proof of the awesome power of one image and one word to defeat those too lazy or intolerant to realize that some things are timeless, and that as long as humans tread this earth and contemplate their place in the Universe, there will be eaning and space for art in all its manifold forms.

http://xantegabriela.com

Start Time: Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 6.30 PM
End Time: Monday, August 3, 2009 at 6PM
Place: Ganesha Gallery
Address: Four Seasons Hotel, Jimbaran, Bali – Indonesia