Restraint Vol.5

This is part of a series of 8 panels. These panels are part of the project named A Study in Scarlet. Named after the 1887 detective novel by British author Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet emerged during a winter photography research trip to Hokkaido, Japan. Whilst nestled in the vast whiteness of the snow, I explored the minimalist sensibility of the Japanese countryside vis-a-vis the horror vacui inclinations of the urban Manila visual landscape, where there is not an inch left without either a building or a billboard on the horizon.

This project consists of mix media paintings, drawings, video animation, and lasercut boards in resin and wooden box sculptures. For paintings, I attempted to limit my colors and, in a repetitive manner, collaged images cut up into minuscule squares; after which I Iayered it with semi-transparent white paint. The last allá prima gestural stroke of red refers to Sherlock Holmes’ words to his chronicler, Watson: "There's the scarlet thread of murder running through the colourless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel it, and isolate it, and expose every inch of it.”