Manila Contemporary presents in the Main and Upstairs Galleries, Maya Munoz’s latest solo exhibition Poems for Days II: Ocean Suites. A continuation of a previous exhibition that took place in the Upstairs Gallery earlier in the year, she now takes on both spaces to present a meditative experience that focuses on her ongoing fascination with time, landscape, order and randomness. For the past few years, Munoz has been producing abstracted images composed of pencil drawn grids, layers of color, drips, intuitive marks and collage. These mysterious works act as memories and impressions of various landscapes encountered throughout her life. Whether real places or emotional mappings, they allow Munoz to process personal experiences as well as visually incorporate her current interests in classical music and philosophy.

Painters often ‘grid’ their canvases as a starting point for the accurate reproduction of figurative images. Abstract Art also focuses on the grid as a subject matter in itself, formally analyzing its geometries and minimalist possibilities. For Munoz, the grid is the foundation of her thoughts and painterly gestures. It is not the subject, but rather what grounds and guides her images towards an esoteric perfection. In completion, they are often concealed through layers of paint, marks and collage, becoming ‘ghosts’ of their original selves. The need for order and precision therefore evolves and expands into personal cartographies of both logic and emotion in these highly atmospheric and visually intense works.

Image: © Maya Munoz, Manila Contemporary