Bright Colors of Despair by Amadis Ma. Guerrero, Times Journal, July 16, 1980
A newcomer on the local art scene, Lo-Tsen Chien is winding up her second one-man show at The Gallery, Hyatt Regency (extended until tomorrow.) On view are some 20 paintings in oil.
Ms. Chien is Chinese, but this is hardly discernible in her works. Her style and sensibility are thoroughly Western, and her themes are urban alienation, alcoholism, loneliness, and despair.
The artist works in a semi-cubist, expressionist style possibly influenced by the German expressionists led by Edvard Munch. She also displays a kinship with local expressionists like Onib Olmedo and Danilo Dalena, although she still has to match the power captured by these painters in their works.
Ms. Chien focuses on the human figure, on stylized, simplified nudes who are seeming outcasts of humanity. She has a flair for bright colors and bold patterns juxtaposed against spare, abstract and geometric backgrounds.
Her colors clash with her message, weakening it at times but often generating tension, which is one criterion for a successful work of art. She employs distortion to achieve her effects, and her stark backgrounds include deserts and cityscapes.
Her primary and secondary colors offer a wide spectrum: deep red, sheer black, apple green, orange, scarlet, violet and blue. The quality of the show is more or less consistent, but two paintings which are dominantly blue are rather weak.
The most impressive work is “Depression,” a seemingly simple composition which best showcases the stark qualities earlier noted. Here, two nudes, interact in a pas de deux of despair, highlighted against a moonlit black and red background.
Chien’s style is by no means original, but she has her own way of handling color and evoking atmosphere. With her heavy themes deodorized by flashy colors, she has an edge over artists who prefer to overlook harsh reality and stick to the bright and pleasant side of life instead.
A newcomer on the local art scene, Lo-Tsen Chien is winding up her second one-man show at The Gallery, Hyatt Regency (extended until tomorrow.) On view are some 20 paintings in oil.
Ms. Chien is Chinese, but this is hardly discernible in her works. Her style and sensibility are thoroughly Western, and her themes are urban alienation, alcoholism, loneliness, and despair.
The artist works in a semi-cubist, expressionist style possibly influenced by the German expressionists led by Edvard Munch. She also displays a kinship with local expressionists like Onib Olmedo and Danilo Dalena, although she still has to match the power captured by these painters in their works.
Ms. Chien focuses on the human figure, on stylized, simplified nudes who are seeming outcasts of humanity. She has a flair for bright colors and bold patterns juxtaposed against spare, abstract and geometric backgrounds.
Her colors clash with her message, weakening it at times but often generating tension, which is one criterion for a successful work of art. She employs distortion to achieve her effects, and her stark backgrounds include deserts and cityscapes.
Her primary and secondary colors offer a wide spectrum: deep red, sheer black, apple green, orange, scarlet, violet and blue. The quality of the show is more or less consistent, but two paintings which are dominantly blue are rather weak.
The most impressive work is “Depression,” a seemingly simple composition which best showcases the stark qualities earlier noted. Here, two nudes, interact in a pas de deux of despair, highlighted against a moonlit black and red background.
Chien’s style is by no means original, but she has her own way of handling color and evoking atmosphere. With her heavy themes deodorized by flashy colors, she has an edge over artists who prefer to overlook harsh reality and stick to the bright and pleasant side of life instead.
