?MANILA, Philippines - “My whole mind is about Star Wars for now,” begins Elena Coyiuto, who will showcase the characters of the much-beloved movie franchise in a series of paintings entitled “The Force.”
The exhibit, in collaboration with Finale Art File, coincides with a Star Wars event featuring the first Lego-certified store in the Philippines, with an exhibit of 3D models of various Star Wars characters, a seven-foot-tall building and mini R2-D2s alike.
The exhibit runs from Dec. 10 to Jan. 3, 2016 at Park Triangle, 11th Avenue corner Rizal Drive, Park Triangle, Bonifacio Global City.
In this exhibit, Elena delves into the narrative of Star Wars — widely considered a mythology of modern times — bringing to the medium of painting characters that have made it an enduring classic for the last 40 years.
Departing from the vivid colors, expressive moods and autobiographical concerns of her successful first solo exhibition, “Exuberance,” held at Finale Art File early this year, Elena explores the range of more subdued tonalities (the dark of the universe is the backdrop of Star Wars, after all), rendering geometric shapes and employing a cast of beloved figures that take center stage in the popular imagination.
The show also allows the artist to have fun and connect with a vast audience who is familiar with the movie franchise. “I don’t want to be constrained and put in a box that I have to be in a gallery setting,” she says. “I can go beyond and just have fun. This exhibit is for me just doing what I want to do.”
No doubt it is the familiarity of the characters that immediately connects the paintings to the viewers —from the young to the young-at-heart. The works, all seven of them, are a tender and joyous tribute to the character-driven narrative in which the forces of evil and the forces of good meet in a terrific conflict testing inner reserves of courage.
In “The Force,” Elena celebrates the eventual triumph of all the good things in the world. “The greatest lesson that Star Wars teaches us is that every one of us is a hero,” Elena states. “Either we want to be a hero in a good way or in a bad way. Either you want to be a Luke Skywalker or you want to be Darth Vader. Ultimately, for me, the good would prevail over evil.”
Part of the proceeds of the exhibit will go to Action for the Care and Development of the Poor in the Philippines (ACAP) to support the art initiatives of the group.