ARTIST STATEMENT

“I breathe eclecticism. My oeuvre unveils ephemeral glimpses of colorful truths springing from deep within and the constant shifts occurring in me. I think art is almost always personal and autobiographical, whether deliberate or not.  I gravitate strongly toward themes that resonate with me.  These themes tacitly invoke optimism, mirth, resilience, fortitude, duality, heritage, nostalgia, saudade, and transcendence, often referencing diaspora and my homeland.

Grounded in mere pleasure of self-expression and intuitive aesthetics yet tapping subtly the didactic potential of visual art (because why not?), my works tend to inform and amuse via explorations in culture, history, identity, and diaspora, employing concepts and imagery that conquer barriers, connect minds and ideas, bridge time and space, investigate and marry dichotomies that are present in the mundane world and all of human existence. 

As a raw and avid explorer of creative capacities and infinite curiosities, my work today is multidisciplinary, eclectic, intuitively accomplished, and always shifting. I believe that it is important for artists to evolve and we should not be limited to one specific genre in a specific period of time. In exchange for multifariousness, I always commit to a series, albeit intermittently fulfilled, in order to impart cohesive narratives. My current bodies of work consist of paintings rendered with coffee, acrylics, graphite, ink, and gouache, digital oils and illustrations, mixed media collages, mini sculptures and assemblages of fiber and found objects, haiku/senryū form and free verse poetry.  I have found the amalgamation of realism, abstraction, neo-cubism, and post-impressionism vis-a-vis my personal migrant journey to be useful in putting my ideas into fruition. 

Ever so often, it is sheer creative bliss while exploring colors, patterns, curiosities, thoughts, and memory that spawn the diverse and bewildering medley of my works.”

 

BIO

Clarisse is a Filipina artist, born and raised in the Philippines and a migrant/Filam/Global Filipino by sweet serendipity. Her works have been shown in print, online and in art exhibitions in San Francisco and Los Angeles California.

Coming from a family of artists, Clarisse is mostly self-taught with independent practice and is always quick to say that she is not art-schooled but proudly “heART-schooled” and that her art comes from a place of ardent explorations, not expertise.

Embracing ADD and her inner conflicts as a creative social introvert, she finds that switching and experimenting between media and her many distinct styles keep her feelings, state of mind, interest, motivation and perspectives renewed and fresh at all times.

A substantial portion of earnings from her art is dedicated to help Clarisse in her causes and advocacies supporting mental health, literacy in impoverished countries and the street children and indigent families in the Philippines via her “Project Little Happy Hearts” outreach programs (e.g. Lingap Pangarap ng mga Paslit Center in Batangas City). She also makes sure to always represent the Philippines by lending her skills and resources to other charitable foundations in the United States and other countries (e.g. VAD Foundation, Canvas Peace Project for the education and livelihood projects for women in South Sudan, Kaisahang Buhay Foundation-Philippines and Art Saves Lives International – UK).

She is an awardee for Outstanding Global Filipinos at the 7th Annual OBRA (Outstanding OFW and Balikbayan Reputation Awards). Philippines, December 2015.

CHILDHOOD

Clarisse developed her passion early and as cliché as it may seem, started drawing with her father as soon as she was old enough to hold a pencil, “thanks to Daddy, a natural born artist — whose idea of playtime and bonding time was the drawing guessing game, way before we got to know Pictionary”. She still does the drawing guessing game with little kids and strongly believes that “we need to tap into their creative, inferential and expressive skills early on. It matters a lot in shaping one’s character for later in life”.

CAREERS

Between professional careers in the corporate world, psychology and healthcare fields, she had also once been an early childhood development specialist, a preschool and kindergarten teacher, a summer camp teacher and earned extra keep as a freehand glitter-tattoo artist and face painter for parties and theater productions and an illustrator for abstract reasoning/visual requirements for IQ tests.

PASSIONS

Knowing that life is short but believing that possibilities are endless, she also dabbles on other fields that are off the easel:  “iPhoneography”, haiku/poetry, archery, blogging/writing, lettering, cooking, being a devoted wifey, mom and dog mommy.  She is an ardent student of flow arts like rope flow and hoop dancing, which she considers an extension of her intuitive painting practice.  Honoring her flow  includes playing the piano, kalimba and tongue drum.  One of her dreams is not so much to travel the whole world but to keep visiting and immersing in a few favorites (the Italian countryside, for instance) as well as learning a third language — Sign language!  And Castilian Spanish — because it sounds so beautiful and because her mother tongue is at home with it. She is an avid fan of translated Korean poetry.  She is fluent in English and Filipino/Tagalog,  which is something she considers a big blessing especially for her Filipiniana and Baybayin-themed projects in the United States.

PROJECTS

While currently balancing the 8-5 desk job (she is trying to “grow away” from) and her own art business, she has also set her sights on publishing in the near future: 1) a coffee table book of her BIAK coffee paintings and narratives 2) an art and poetry memoir highlighting the family ancestral home she grew up in.

BAYBAYIN

Clarisse as a Baybayin enthusiast and practitioner hopes to contribute in her little humble way in reviving and reinforcing the presence of Baybayin. For her, this beautiful and multi-faceted ancient pre-colonial script is not dead, but merely sleeping…” and she wishes to be part of its resurgence because it has been a big part of her childhood (a juvenile fascination with sending secret codes and messages in high school) as well as her awakening and growth as a Filam artist in America.