Patricia Perez Eustaquio

Patricia Perez Eustaquio (b. 1977, Cebu, Philippines;lives and works in Benguet Province, Philippines) is known for works that span different mediums and disciplines—from paintings, drawings, and sculptures, to the fields of fashion, décor, and craft. She reconciles these intermediary forms through her constant exploration of notions that surround the integrity of appearances and the vanity of objects. Images of detritus, carcasses, and decay are embedded into the handiwork of design, craft, and fashion, while merging the disparate qualities of the maligned and marginalized with the celebrated and desired. From her ornately shaped canvases to sculptures shrouded by fabric, their arrival as fragments, shadows, or memories, according to Eustaquio, underline their aspirations, their vanity, this ‘desire to be desired. ’Her wrought objects (ranging from furniture, textile, brass, and glasswork in manufactured environments) demonstrate these contrasting sensibilities and provide commentary on the mutability of perception, as well as on the constructs of desirability and how it influences life and culture.

Eustaquio has gained recognition through several residencies abroad, including Art Omi in New York and Stichting Id11 of the Netherlands. She has also been part of numerous notable exhibitions, such as The Vexed Contemporary in the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, Manila; That Mountain is Coming at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, France; and An Atlas of Mirrors in the 2016 Singapore Biennale. She is a recipient of The Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Thirteen Artists Awards.

Credit: Silverlens Gallery


An Unraveling (Conversation Among Ruins, After Francisco),tapestry (woven),290.0l x 244.0w cm,2019,The tapestry, An Unravelling (Converstion Among Ruins, After Francisco), one of several in a series of woven works I refer to as translations wherein I deconstruct and reconstruct historically significant Philippine paintings and recreate them into a woven work. In this retelling, I wanted to explode the original imagery and then rebuild it using more digital means (via digital imagery and a digital loom), and in so doing, remove the power of the artist's persona, the power of gesture, and authorship. I wanted the woven tapestries to lend the works a more tactile, perhaps more inclusive retelling of the historical narrative, in order to recalibrate how we view our past and ourselves. (The original painting by Carlos "Botong" Francisco, from which the tapestry is appropriated, is part of a large mural depicting the history of medicine. It presents the beginning of such history, demonstrating the shaman/Babaylan's power to summon healing energy from flora and fauna.)
After Babaylan (drawing),graphite on paper,101l x 86w x 2.5h cm,2025
History is a Jungle (Spears),plastic plants, spray paint, bamboo, wood, found wooden arm,concrete base,2022,There is history that sticks and history that slips away. History is a Jungle is a collection of spears made of bamboo poles and synthetic foliage presented alongside an orphaned, articulated arm in the midst of launching a spear: a canon with an armory of duds. The installation is anchored by a large tapestry depicting the power of the energy that flows between humans and nature. The image is abstracted but one can glean the players in this story: the warriors and their spears, the Babaylan (witchdoctor) raising her arms with the power of a ferocious animal behind her, the shaman preparing a concoction of herbs and leaves. An image of mysticism and folk magic unfolds.
I assembled these objects together perhaps because I wanted to raise the questions these works pose. The tropics, the islands, the natives, the conquistadors, shamans, priests, warriors, swords and spears; the fierce battle and warm welcome, and then the long voyage of exotic goods making new homes on the other side of the world. When socalled savage weapons are used to spear the centerpiece of a feast or offering to the healing gods. When the Monstera (plant) becomes ubiquitous in temperate climates, and only becomes trendy in the tropics as a consequence. History is a jungle we must decode and navigate and it is perhaps this tangled mess that has made our lives so interesting and yet also fraught with loss.
Image from the artist and Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art
Image from the artist and Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art
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