The pleasures revealed in Didi Quiason Lopa’s paintings of flowers are many, and like a loving parent taking pride in her children, she now shows off these paintings in her first solo exhibition, Bloom with Age (August 12-26, 2023, J Studio Gallery, La Fuerza Plaza, Chino Roces, Makati)
Didi always had more than a passing interest in art. As a child, she was fascinated with the many found objects that could come together for a still life painting. She took art lessons and workshops on Chinese painting with her mother and sister. Though the seeds of an artistic profession had been sown, life happened, and she took on its offerings. She became a flight attendant, opened a restaurant, and eventually settled down to domesticity as a full-time mom while raising a family.
Didi’s progression of growth and change has taken her from all of these pursuits and involvements to where she is now.
Even so, her taking up the paintbrush again after several years did not restart with painting flowers, but with doing portraits and interacting with other portrait artists.
Still, a pivot point will always happen, and when the chance comes, it’s your choice to take it or not.
Didi experienced the fateful 2022 national elections as a moment when she realized whatever the outcome would be, she did have the skills, the competence, and the gift of positive thinking she could express by painting flowers. It was a significant insight, and it induced Didi’s artistic maturity.
Flowers opened up new dimensions for Didi. They weren’t just pretty and uplifting subject matter; they were full of symbolisms and projections—in her case, good ones, like positive thoughts and hopes. And we will all agree that there is something always engaging and appealing about flowers, in all their life stages. Flowers have visual and symbolic power.
Today she spends most of her time painting in her studio, working with a medium that allows for multiple layers of translucence and transparence, characteristics that she has taken advantage of beautifully. Her acrylic-on-canvas paintings are not overworked and are driven by her own freedom of exuberant expression. Her solo exhibit comes at an exciting time of gained wisdom, experience, freedom, and growth.
“In this body of work for Bloom with Age, I used a different technique compared to my commissioned portraits by pouring acrylic paint directly onto the canvas to form floral shapes. Sometimes I allow different colors of wet paint to mix and form different patterns. Once the paint dries, I use brushstrokes to add the finishing touches. This process of freely creating these flowers brings me joy. We bloom at different times and stages; if we stay hopeful and trust the process of growth, then no matter what age we are in, we have the chance to bloom. “
While some ages and stages of development may be idealized, romanticized, or preferred compared to others, each and every stage has its wonders and its challenges. Didi Lopa knows now that there is so much more she can still do, and that so many possibilities lie ahead. “Kaya pa (Can do still), ” she says.
BLOOM WITH AGE runs August 12-26, 2023, J Studio Gallery, La Fuerza Plaza, Gate 1 Compound, Chino Roces, Makati.
