My Native Land

(Ref#: ALT-i01)
2021
Ayen Quias is a professional wood collage artist who has discovered the power of art within herself. She recognized early on that she possessed the ability to use her hands to create something beautiful and extraordinary. She dabbled in painting for a while before deciding to devote herself to her craft and establishing herself as a serious artist in 2012. With acrylic as her first medium and then wood, she decided that her work had to make a statement and have to point somewhere. That somewhere could be inside her heart or outside her comfort zone, an environment taken over by modernization and technology. The collection, Cheeks on Fleek, was born. The artist wanted to create figurative and abstract paintings at the same time. The paintings in the collection depict modern women, but they are actually reflections of herself: as a woman, a mother, and a lover. She exposes her soul to the public through these paintings, including her perceived flaws, individuality, and life struggles. Wood sculpture followed, with the goal of transforming scraps of wood into works of art, giving them new meaning and importance. Colorful houses are built close together, either in rows or on top of one another, using pieces of wood that have been combined and assembled. This is the concept of her latest masterpiece, Ayen’s Little Town. These works of art depict the consequences of industrialization and how people cope with urbanization. Her work does not romanticize poverty in any way. Instead, they strive to bring order to chaos and find balance in the midst of life's daily struggles. She can choose to create artworks that are too complex and too abstract to comprehend. She can choose to pour out all her angst and frustrations to produce a dark or somber piece. Instead, she chooses to make something simple, so that its mere simplicity is a breath of fresh air to the weary mind. She chooses to make something colorful, making her creations a joy to behold. In this complicated world, being happy with simple things is priceless. Ayen is an advocate of complex simplicity. She deconstructs a complex design and strips it down to bare its soul. And that's where the beauty of creation lies. She is at her most alive when she is immersed in her work. Her fears have been transformed into something beautiful, positive, and inspiring. Art is her form of therapy because it works its magic on her. She hopes that it will also serve as a form of therapy for the viewers. She wants people to know that simply looking at Ayen's Little Town has made many people happy. She is an artist extraordinaire. Her Cheeks on Fleek collection was shown at the Malaysian Art Expo in 2013 and Arts Apart in Singapore in 2016. "Sopistikada," one of her works, has been auctioned in the biggest Southeast Asian auction that was held in Malaysia in 2015 and now a collection of New York Modern Art Gallery. Her work has been displayed in Singapore, Malaysia, Hongkong, Italy, Mexico and United States of America. CNN Philippines, DZRH, ABS-CBN, TeleRadyo, Rise and Shine and other TV Channels in the Philippines recently featured her wood collage sculptures. Her works have been published in Magazines in Philippines and Canada. Her "Homebound" artwork also becomes a cover of the first Philippine Museum Yearbook. She is the founder of CAMP (Contemporary Art Movement of the Philippines).
Category
Sculpture / wood collage
Current Location
Philippines
Represented by
Size
10cm (L) x 44cm (W) x 81cm (H)
Selling Price
US$1,200

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