“Dear Damned Bliss”

About the Artists.

Patricia Perez Eustaquio. The following sewn objects are an exercise conceived as costumes for a performance by an imagined audience who act out the daydream as they sit death-scrolling wants and aspirations on a screen.

Twenty-odd years ago, I worked on my very first "soft" sculpture in Apartment 343. It was a giant inflatable nose made of vinyl tablecloths and shower curtains sewn together, in part an homage to Sartre's image of the existential suffocation and the trappings of my domestic life thus far: full of cheap, diy things. In a way, I wanted to think back on the experimental energy of my art practice then, and how not long after this first attempt at sewing a sculpture, I had made costumes for my friends in the performing arts.

In the absence of a performer, my thoughts turned back to the self, and how our lives in the past couple of years have become solo acts performed together in the world online, and how we gained time by not stepping out of our homes, as we remained glued to our seats and screens. Social media provided a mental escape: to places we wanted to visit or move to, to perfectly green plants we wanted to water, to well-designed furniture we wanted our homes to be filled with. So I guess this is a playful attempt to provide that mental escape. In a way it is a costume for a daydream, and in another, perhaps a costume for a piece of furniture standing in for an actor.

(b. 1978) Erin Asuncion Dionisio finished her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Studio Arts majoring in painting at the UP Diliman College of Fine Arts. She was active in the art scene and participated in a few group shows while in college. After graduating in 2003, she began working as an illustrator and graphic designer.

Shortly after migrating to Sydney, Australia with her husband in 2007, she did further studies at design school Shillington, where unexpectedly, her traditional art education began to fuse with the design world in an engaging way. This began a fruitful career in the creative industry that allowed her to work on a wide scope of global brands. Along the way, she applied and was successfully accepted in the highly sought-after and globally recognised course for aspiring art directors, AWARD School. It was a grueling training especially while working a full-time job but she stuck with it. The knowledge gained in creative thinking and problem solving were invaluable. In all of these, her first love of art has not left her - she has always kept abreast of the art scene locally, globally and most especially in the Philippines.

Her current work reflects her straightforward and practical approach to creating art by utilizing her background in fine arts and the experience she’s gained throughout the years as a designer in the advertising and marketing industry. Additionally, her work is influenced by her interest in illustration, animation and architecture.

ARTIST STATEMENT:
Since moving here to Australia, I have always dreamed of being able to practice Fine Arts again. I've put this longing to good use, and to my great benefit, by allowing it to influence and inspire my commercial work. One of my UP Fine Arts professor (Roberto Chabet) once told me I have 'an eye for beauty', I believe from then onwards I have been unconsciously probing, exploring and celebrating this in all aspects of my life, especially in my creative pursuits.

ABOUT THE ARTWORKS:
For this series entitled 'Still Memory, 343 UP Bliss', she went with colourful graphics, quirky visuals, accentuated with a few prose notes in expressing that special bond she had with art school friends in their "home away from home" in that particular period of their lives.

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