Silverlens has announced its representation of artists Imelda Cajipe Endaya, Keka Enriquez, and Catalina Africa.
Committed to showcasing Southeast Asian artists, Silverlens pursues its mission to enhance global awareness and facilitate access to the narratives and histories of these pivotal artists and the region overall.
In 2024, Endaya will unveil a solo exhibition at Silverlens Manila and debut at Art Basel Hong Kong. Africa and Enriquez are in Silverlens’ Art Fair Philippines, while Enriquez will also showcase an accompanying exhibition at Silverlens New York.
“As the gallery turns 20 years old in Manila, we continue to represent who we feel are excellent visual voices from the Philippines and her diaspora. We have had deep respect for Imelda Cajipe Endaya’s work for decades and are excited that we can bring her work to new audiences,” Silverlens co-directors Isa Lorenzo and Rachel Rillo said in a statement.
“We have been fans of Catalina and Keka for over 10 years. We met Catalina at her thesis defense at the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts, and have been collecting her work and watching her practice mature. Keka, who had stopped painting in the early aughts, became a friend in 2012 when we sought her out in San Francisco. At the time, she had completely left the art world and was doing meaningful work in the Tenderloin area. We asked her then if she would come back to painting. Now, over a decade later, we have her answer. We look forward to all the good things that will surely come out of these partnerships.”
Imelda Cajipe Endaya
Filipino artist Imelda Cajipe Endaya (b. 1949, Manila, Philippines; lives and works in Manila, Philippines) centers her art and advocacy on socio-political issues, the postcolonial legacy, and women’s empowerment. Acknowledged as a feminist trailblazer, she is known for paintings, prints, and installations that speak the distinctive visual language of her Filipino heritage and feminine perspective.
Co-founder of the feminist artists organization Kababaihan sa Sining at Bagong Sibol na Kamalayan (KASIBULAN), she played a pivotal role in establishing the influential arts journal Pananaw. In 2022, the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) hosted a 50-year retrospective exhibition of her life titled Pagtutol at Pag-asa.
Keka Enriquez
Endaya’s works are in the collection of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, CCP, Philippine National Art Gallery, National Gallery of Singapore, Metropolitan Museum Manila, Okinawa Prefectural Museum, and Fukuoka Asian Art Museum. Among her awards are Ani ng Dangal from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts in 2009, Republic of the Philippines CCP Centennial Honors in 1999, Araw ng Maynila Award in 1998, and the CCP Thirteen Artists Award in 1991. Beyond fine art and community organizing, she is also an author and independent curator.
Keka Enriquez (b. 1962, Manila, Philippines; lives and works in San Francisco, California) is a distinguished and widely acclaimed artist recognized for her signature interiors rendered in thick expressionistic brushstrokes. A student of Roberto Chabet, widely known as the father of conceptual art in the Philippines, Enriquez graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting at the University of the Philippines.
Her early works were influenced by ‘80s Neo-expressionist artists, particularly Baselitz, Clemente, Basquiat, and Schnabel, known for their aggressive brush strokes and emotionally-charged subject matter. Through her works, she questioned the value and purpose of painting, exploring the appropriation of imagery and the traditional application of paint. A recurring theme in her artworks is the portrayal of the homescape, traditionally the domain of women. Her canvases are vignettes of images of objects or spaces within the house, resembling a “quilt” of scenes. Through a reconfiguration of pigment, texture, and surface, Enriquez contemplates the home, evolving from its more innocent origins into the psychological and social dimensions.
Enriquez has exhibited her works in the Philippines, the US, England, Australia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Malaysia. Under a Unesco grant, she obtained her Masters degree in Fine Arts at the Norwich School of Art and Design, England, in 1995. Before becoming an artist, Enriquez was a ballet dancer taking classes with the likes of prima ballerina Lisa Macuja-Elizalde.
Catalina Africa
In 1994, she was a recipient of the CCP’s Thirteen Artists Award. She eventually moved to San Francisco where she dedicated herself to recreational therapy. After a long absence, she returned to the Philippine art scene in 2023.
Multi-disciplinary artist Catalina Africa (b. 1988, Manila, Philippines; lives and works in Baler, Philippines) considers shapeshifting to be her primary mode of expression. She works across mediums including painting, sound, sculpture, video, text, and performance, her artworks are invocations to the natural landscape. Resembling spells, songs, love letters, prayers, and maps, her spatial visualization of an environment pays testimony to the Earth’s mysteries and magic. Raised in Manila, the artist now lives and works in Baler, with her husband and child, where she cultivates a devotional practice to Spirit, transmuting Earth song and collaborating with the living land.
Africa’s solo exhibitions include Shrine in the Shape of Shadow, Silverlens, Manila, Philippines (2022); Spiralling in Starlight Vision, ArtInformal, Makati, Philippines (2022); and Time Moving in All Directions (Featuring Conversational Adornment by Tanya Villanueva), Finale Art File, Makati, Philippines (2018). Select group exhibitions include Shrines, Silverlens, New York (2023); Phantasmapolis x Manila: Select works from the 2021 Asian Art Biennial, Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Philippines (2022); Phantasmapolis, Asian Art Biennial, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan (2021); Wild Legend, Juming Museum, Taiwan (2015); and The Philippines Contemporary: Directions, Metropolitan Museum Museum of Manila, Philippines (2015).
