Philippine Daily Inquirer
by Jessica Jalandoni-Robillos
Along Pasilio Guillermo Tolentino on the third floor of Cultural Center of the Philippines are hung the latest abstractions of lindslee.
They are mixed-media works offering viewers double treats, for they are a collection of back-and-front pieces the artist has dubbed “Face:Phase.” And aptly so, for the artworks seem to revolve around concepts and theories that do with appearances and stages.
Janus, two-faced god of gates doorway in roman mythology, comes to mind, and since this show “present Lindslee in a different light,” it is a fitting reference to the many facets of the artist and his craft.
The works are square, the flat front surface displaying the mottled or blotchy expanses so familiar in Lindslee’s composition. Behind, colors come into play, the X-brace is an element and not just a from of support. Where the wood meets at the center is either a circular mass of texturant and paint, or additional planks which convey perspective, or both.
Circles in squares and the constant Xs vaguely remind one of Leonardo da Vinci Vitruvian Man with its circular border, and extremities spread. In Lindslee’s effort at “providing the viewers an insight into the mind of its creator,” could it then be said that this body of works bare his thoughts, his denials, by presenting an anatomical study in abstraction?
But, really, the approach seems more a take off from Piet Mondrian’s Neoplasticism, with sharp triangulars instead of rectangulars and the color that are not confined to the primaries, which the Dutch painter used with black lines and mostly white back drops.
With this exhibit, the artist marks an “experimentation with color and technique.” Here, phases can actually refer to color perception in psychological terms, where a color circle, which is not much different from an artist’s color wheel, not only simplifies cool mixture but also becomes the basis for determining which colors correspond to different wavelengths in visual regions of sensitivity.
The center of the color circle is white, as is the central mound of what seems like plaster on the back of “Different Light,” with mauve for the background.
In “Significant Figure” is yet another circle, this time flat and brown, placed on top of the crossed brace against a bright of pink.
REVALATION
This use of pink and mauve, tones that are similar to those used for flesh and muscle in cross-section illustrations of the human body, may again be a metaphor of revelation -as if to show how lindslee is “inside.”
If these installation paintings portray the inner artist, the circles symbolize the core of his being and the braces signify what keeps him together. They are perhaps the visual equivalent of his passionate creed: “Art is what my body craves for. It is the fuel in my blood that makes me move.”
“Imaginary Junction” is the only piece where the central ellipse is absent, replaced by another square. This presentation of perspective poses the usual questions: Is one zeroing in on the core? Or, inversely yet complementarily, is there a broadening of comprehension?
This is also a common component in psychological tests called ambiguous perspective. It is also in this piece where colors personify Lindslee quite accurately.
The turquoise blue, yellow and yellow-green, as combinations, have the following possible interpretations by Swiss psychologist Max Luscher color test:
“Yellow/blue:… open to new ideas and possibilities which he hopes will prove fruitful and interesting;
“Yellow/green: alert and keenly observant. Is seeking fresh avenues offering greater freedom and the chance to make the most of them…”
Interesting, too, that is the front of “Imaginary Junction,” which includes a huge circle, on top of which is screen-like texturing, which perhaps alludes to how individuals appear intact, whole. That texture, not paint, is used to show the screen may imply the invisible barrier which needs to be removed or opened to gain access inward, to the other, maybe more vulnerable, persona.
The front compositions then can be called the “faces,” parlaying the external, that which is already known about the artist. The forbidding grays, somber earth tones and stark whites are routine for Lindslee, as was seen in his social realism series which spoke of his outward thoughts, observation of environs and going-on. These represent him as part of the environment, the simple external-Lindslee at face value, so to speak.
“Face:Phase” is, in essence, Lindslee somehow allowing his audience a peek into his psyche, entry into his introspective exploration. It is also a depiction of the existence of the alter ego and the intricacies of opening the gates or doors that allow its revelation.