Elysian Fields
In Elysian, Katrina Cuenca’s works shimmer with light, as if each brushstroke and curvature of form were portals to a world both remembered and imagined anew.
By Art+ Magazine Team
Photo courtesy of Katrina Cuenca
September 30, 2025
In Elysian, Katrina Cuenca extends her long-standing exploration of movement, chromatic rhythm, and spatial harmony into a plane of radiant transcendence. The exhibition at Art Lounge Manila – Molito takes its title from the mythic fields of bliss—a place where the spirit, liberated from worldly encumbrances, finds rest in beauty. True to this invocation, the works gathered shimmer with light, as if each brushstroke and curvature of form were portals to a world both remembered and imagined anew.
Across Cuenca’s works, the eye is led into streams of intertwining color and geometry—lattices that pulse, undulate, and break into kaleidoscopic revelations. There is a sense of choreography at work: figures dissolve into fields of energy and structures dissolve into motion. The compositions never still themselves into stasis, but breathe with an organic vitality––caught mid-flight, suspended in the instant before resolution.
A Chorus of Petals and Play 36”x 48” Art Type Medium on Medium (2025)
Cuenca’s painterly approach negotiates structure and dynamism. Her compositions often rely on the interplay of florid configurations and gestural movement. This results in spatial structures that resist singular focal points and instead, encourage a dispersed mode of viewing. This layering produces depth and vibrancy, while the distribution of form suggests a disciplined concern for equilibrium. In this sense, the works do not merely gesture toward visual rhythm, but actively construct a field of relational tension. This situates Cuenca’s practice within broader discourses of abstraction in contemporary Philippine painting.
Regal Atmospheres 44 x 77, Painting Oil and Silverleaf on Canvas (2025)
What Elysian ultimately offers is not only an escape, but an encounter. These works remind that paradise is not only a mythic destination but a condition of seeing, a shift of perception. In Cuenca’s layered planes and radiant elements, one glimpses how art might enact its own promise: to deliver us, however briefly, to that realm where all is luminous, balanced, and whole.
Katrina Cuenca
For Cuenca, art is more than aesthetics—it's a deeply personal journey of healing, discovery, and joy. Her vibrant abstract works, often composed of mixed media, are not merely “pretty” pieces but emotional landscapes intended to evoke peace and gratitude in an increasingly chaotic world. Cuenca’s creative path was born from pain: after losing her mother, she turned to painting not just as an outlet, but as a way to express how she wanted to feel—hopeful, uplifted, and free.
Lumen Captum 10.5 x 10 x 5 Scuplture Glass (2025)
Known for her spontaneous yet structured creative process, Cuenca embraces the messiness of experimentation. Her studio is filled with fabrics, pigments, and materials she's collected over the years—many of which she repurposes into her pieces. From acrylic and oil paints to gold leaf and light-absorbing black paint, she uses contrast and texture to create artworks that transform with the light.
In her latest exhibit at Art Lounge Manila – Molito Lifestyle Center this September—her first in the South—Cuenca showcases larger-scale pieces born from her expanded studio space. The exhibit also reflects her personal transition, as she celebrates not just her art, but her new home and evolving creative identity. When asked to describe her artistic journey in one word, she answered: “Surprising”—a fitting reflection of a career shaped by persistence, intuition, and endless curiosity.
Anima Fidelis (A Loyal Soul) 14 x 16 x 10.5, Sculpture Puppy Abstract with Oil and Goldleaf with a Diamond Coating Finish (2025)
Art Lounge Manila is located at Molito Lifestyle Center Madrigal Avenue, corner Commerce Ave, Muntinlupa City. For more information about Art Lounge Manila, you can visit their website at www.artloungemanila.com. Follow their social media pages on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube at @artloungemanila for the latest updates. For collectible, functional, and wearable art, you can also shop at www.gfemporium.com.
