Geraldine Javier

Filipino artist Geraldine Javier’s art is experimental, daring and remarkable in its pursuit of the personal and the idiosyncratic. Every generation has a raison d’ etre, which defines the prevalent art discourse. Javier is from a new generation of young Filipino artists, who do not feel compelled by the traditional narrative constructed by predecessors; a history rooted in social realism. Javier’s art belongs to those voices from the Filipino art scene, which provide an expression to highly personalized, fragmented narratives influenced by global media and local redefining culture. The constant tension between the local and the global in Javier’s artworks is what makes them intellectually stimulating.

Born in Makati City, Manila, Philippines in 1970, Javier had a rather unconventional art beginning. Instead of pursuing art training through academics,  Javier had a professional career in nursing before she eventually turned to practising and experimenting. Later, she completed a bachelor's degree at the University of the Philippines Diliman (UP) College of Fine Art.

Working in multiple mediums, a characteristic feature of her work is the blending of several materials–at times incorporating her oil paintings into installation art. Ingenuously, she uses embroidery or found objects on her canvases, presenting an eclectic manifestation of domestic life. Javier explores the world of human relationships and existence in its wholesome complexity. Images of death, misery, emotional trauma, dysfunctional relationships constantly haunt her canvas.  Also, Javier uses religious iconography, which recalls her past grind, sustenance, and struggles with the Catholic culture in the Philippines.

Javier has a number of solo and group exhibitions, national and international, to her credit.  She was selected as one of 13 top artists by the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 2003. And at an international level, she is recognized as a leading figure in the contemporary Filipino art scene.