Efflorescence, the Blooming of Two Montreal Aspiring Visual Artists

Springing from complete anonymity in the art scene, two (2) young McGill University students decided to come out and bloom. Lily and Roelle held their first art show last April 5 in Espace Pop in Avenue du Parc, Montreal.

Efflorescence was a stake to put their bets on a future that awaits their passion for their arts. Something people just have to have, just have to do. To have the courage and the guts to do something at a pivotal point in their journey to recognition, if not fame.

Lily is Canadian of Chinese-Vietnamese descent. She is a graduating student of economics at McGill. Between the two artists, Lily’s the budding one, with her art as fragile as her frail body and sweet demeanour. Her pieces during the art exhibit spoke of her eagerness to use her brush and paint to express her innocence and her simple execution of her artsy thoughts. Flowers and flower impressions in pastel colors and plain white backgrounds showed her blossoming talent that benefits from her enthusiasm and waits to flourish in due time.

“I just paint about things that remind me of my surroundings and whatever makes me happy. Thus, my inspiration comes from all aspects of my life – my dreams, friends and hobbies.” Painting though for Lily is just a hobby for now. She is more interested in studying the theoretical side of global arts rather than paint to which she admits she has yet to seriously develop the skills for.

Fil-Canadian Roelle is the slayer. She is also a McGill University student, but of Anthropology and Sociology, with a focus on Urban systems. She came from the enriched visual arts program of the Cardinal Carter Academy of the Arts, a specialized and accelerated arts high school in Toronto. She did not will herself to an arts path but her hands kept picking up the brush and her mind kept creating. “I’ve dabbled here and there. It was a hobby. But it was about around 5-6 years ago that I’ve taken it a little bit more seriously when I auditioned for an arts school in Toronto.”

On the pieces she exhibited, Roelle explained –

“I took a more reflexive approach in what I wanted to convey. I would hardly ever consider any of my pieces finished, and that’s just a part of my character. I focused a lot on organic and dynamic elements for my piece. I want my pieces to grow along with me. So, I create them with plans on going back to them one day. Heavy line work with emphasis on the minutias,  yet I tried to portray a cacophony of movement for my illustrations to make them seem like they’re growing. In preparing my blueprints or compositions, it was a stochastic process, quite crude even but I’m extremely meticulous and methodical in my execution. For example, I wanted to overwhelm people who see the work.”

We view Roelle’s artworks for this show as though representing her thoughts about immortalizing the human passion to act, to commit or just even gaze at an unknown horizon amidst the tenderness of flowers and petals that soften the desire but keep it moving just the same. When asked what made them choose “efflorescence” as their theme, she remarked,  “Efflorescence means to grow and flower out, a period of blooming. It was perfect timing when Lily and I are about to exit a portion of our lives (both are graduating from university next school year) as well as enter a new one. The flowers were simple enough to start working with and everything else was left to our instincts and what we wanted to convey.”

Between the two (2) young ladies, Lily had the working drive to put up a show. She initiated the possibility of them coming out on an exhibit like this and introducing themselves to the Montreal art scene. It was a dream, Lily said, to put up an art show before she graduates from McGill and doing it with a friend gave her motivation and the drive to commit to something and make it happen.

According to Roelle, “Lily told me that she had initially planned on having an art exhibit both as good experience and for fun. She asked if I was interested in doing an art exhibition with her and I never would have done it myself, at least not now. But now I’m hooked and want to continue doing more shows and start submitting to existing galleries as well in the future.”

Roelle’s art represents an artist’s mood and mindset to showcase only talent – only what any artist can clearly conceptualize, fully explain, or be proud of. And that was manifested in the manner Roelle put up or displayed her pieces for the exhibit- very clean, organized, and with flowing symmetry of design and ideas. Where does she get her inspiration from?

“My inspiration is perhaps the amalgam of all the crystalized knowledge I have accumulated so far. I love learning. From literature to philosophy to history to poetry to peer-reviewed papers and publications.  I love reading books more than anything. I’ll read everything but (Friedrich) Nietzsche, (Oscar) Wilde, and (Mitch) Albom are definitely my favourites. My favourite piece of literature is Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde – a great poet. To me, a really great poet is the most unpoetical of all creatures.”

“In person, I’m quite reserved unless spoken to. My art, on the other hand, is bold and loud. For this exhibition, I was particularly interested on the concept of liminality and sonderness.” (Sonder is the feeling you have when you realize that each individual around you has a life, both inner and outer, as complex as you. While liminal comes from the Latin limen which means ‘threshold’ or ‘border’. It also somehow describes a feeling of being on some sort of border or crossing).

This Fil-Canadian artist won the admiration of the members of the Montreal Filipino community who threw in their full support for the exhibitors. Among those who came to grace the art show were community leaders from the Filipino Association of Montreal and Suburbs (FAMAS), the Knights of Rizal, the Philippine Benevolent and Scholarship Society of Quebec (PBSSQ), the Federation of Filipino-Canadian Associations of Quebec (FFCAQ), and the Council of Canadian-Filipino Association of Quebec (CCAFQ).

Sir Gerry Danzil, Sir Dario Boco and Sir Boy Galang represented the Orders of the Knights of Rizal (KOR); the eternal Mr. James dela Paz of FFCAQ (also of KOR) and family were there; FAMAS officers Mercy Sia, Sir Joseph Gonzales, Lorenza Penullar and other FAMAS officers, and active community influencers all lent prestige to the occasion.

Lily also drew her own crowd of friends and supporters from her sphere of influence, including, family, school and possibly, her Instagram followers, too.

Just like Lily, painting for Roelle is,  “A formal hobby for now. I want to immerse myself and be integrated into the arts world, to hold gallery exhibitions and teach art privately from time to time. If I can make something out of it then I’m going to be happy.”

With guts in their heads and talents in their hands, these two young Montreal artists are definitely names to watch out for. Be that be in the strategic business side of the arts and or the paint-and-brush platforms of the creative world.