Known for his paintings of children engaged in play and daydreaming, Gerrico Blanco presents more of the same but with a distinct surrealist edge in his newest exhibit, “Mesmerized,” at Galerie Francesca.
“Mesmerized” presents dreamlike and fantastic images of a circus as seen by a child for the first time: the costumed clowns, confetti and everything else out of the ordinary, evoke the heightened sense of wonder and delight of a child.
Blanco’s steady and skillful hands endow the images with both realism and fantasy.
“The Unicycle” shows a unicycle being pedaled into opposite directions. Different motivations create a conflict of direction.
“The Juggler” shows a teenaged girl wearing a clown’s overalls, her face shrouded by a diaphanous material, and hands incongruently too aged looking. Up in the air are red balls with line drawings of a clock, a heart and a brain. The clock may symbolize time in danger of running out, and the hands may symbolize what one loves and values.
“Chaplin” pays homage to two icons: the great comic and mimic Charlie Chaplin and the painter René Magritte, whose wordless images of ordinary objects are far from mute, and speak of possibilities untapped.
The painting shows how Blanco is influenced by the Belgian surrealist. —CONTRIBUTED
“Mesmerized” will run at Galerie Francesca Festival Mall Sept. 1 – 15. Artist’s reception on the first day at 4 p.m. tel. +639-6592667, +639-5709495. Visit galeriefrancesca.mega@gmail.com.