The First Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

Julie Lluch was born in 1946 in lligan City, Cagayan de Oro, the Philippines, and graduated with a Bachelor of Philosophy degree from the University of Santo Tomas, Manila. Julie Lluch does sculpture in terracotta, stoneware, ceramic and plaster of Paris and has held several solo exhibitions since1977. She exhibited at the Sining Kamalig Gallery, Manila in 1977; the Galerie Bleue, Makati in 1979 and 1981; the Pinaglabanan Gallery, Manila in1985; and the Cultural Center of the Philippines, Manila in 1988. She has also participated extensively in group exhibitions such as the 'AAP Art Annual', Manila, 1973, 1977 and 1978 ; 'Society of Philippine Sculptors 2nd Annual', Manila Hilton Art Center, 1974; 'The Philippine Nude', Manila Peninsula Hotel Gallery, 1977; 'PaperWorks', Shoemart Showroom, Makati, 1982; 'ASEAN InternationalExhibition', Rear Room Gallery, Manila, 1984; and '3rd Asian Art Show', Fukuoka, Japan, 1989. The artist's first works were variations of cactus forms, hearts and buttocks and were witty comments on the relationship of the sexes. From these she proceeded to do life­ size portrait busts of which Philippine Gothic II, a group sculpture consisting of the half­ figures of ahusband and wife with their dog, is one of the most expressive in its ironic comment on the conjugal state. Other autobiographical work shows her in distress over the burnt fish in the frying pan or teary­ eyed, slicing onions. Often her figure is surrounded by competing figures: a spiky cubist dog; a Picasso harlequin doubling as her child; and her cactus sculptures, some broken into pieces. Julie Lluch's later sculptures began to express a more clearly feminist theme-the woman contemplating herself before a mirror, and mythical-symbolic figures such as the woman shouting fromwithin a burning house and the mermaid breasting the strong currents. She has also done numerous terra­ cotta busts of men and women in a highly realistic style. In her recent work of life-size figures in painted terracotta, Julie Lluch has sought to combine feminism and ecoiogy. One such example consists of the life-size figures of a woman and a beast, the woman cradling the dying beast in the manner of a Pieta. The general expression derives from traditional Filipino religious imagery, as in the Lenten Passion of Christ, the style basically realist THE PHILIPPINES JULIE LLUCH Philippine Gothic II Ceramic 150x120x 150cm tending towards expressionist, with exagger­ ated gestures andheightenedemotionalism: Woman mourns the death of Nature, sym­ bolised by the beast. A variation of this work advances the theme by bringing in the concepts of death and resurrection. The work consists of three figures, two being of the same woman, and that of a beast. The first woman is dying, lying on the ground in the form of a cross. Beside her, a second figure, which is the same woman, is alive, kneelingwitharmsupraised in praise. In this version, the beast has a supplementary role, reinforcing the idea of the moribund nature of the first woman. The heightened expressiveness of the figures emphasises their symbolic content. Alice Guillermo 37