AYEN QUIAS AYEN QUIAS is a painter/ collage artist born in Santiago City, Isabela and now based in Pura, Tarlac. She studied Architecture in University of Cordilleras in Baguio City. Most of her paintings are in Ilocano title as respect to her Ilokano roots. Her subject is a lady with cheeks on fleek, as she called it. It is a figurative abstract of woman with protruding shoulder, elongated hands and neck, hourglass shaped bodies, dressed in a series of patterns and with coveted cheeks. One of her paintings “Sophistikada” was sold in an auction and currently a collection of New York Modern Art Gallery. Ayen Quias is the owner and artist of Ayenics Arts and Crafts, makers of faux barrels and customized wood crafts for weddings and other events. When Covid-19 pandemic reached the country and social gathering is restricted, her business along with the event industry was totally devastated. But Ayen Quias is a person who doesn’t dwell on what went wrong but rather thinks that in every mistake there is a possibility and opportunity. So this gives rise to “Ayen’s Little Town”- a wood collage of colorful dense houses with candy colored skies. It is made out of wood scraps and she transformed it into a wonderful work of art. To her it is an artwork to remind us that during this pandemic we lost so much lives, we struggle to live and yet we still have hopes for tomorrow. Ayen Quias joins and attended exhibits in galleries and museum here and abroad which includes 2013 Art Expo Malaysia, Italy, USA, Mexico and the latest is in Singapore where she lost 6 paintings.
Top : A Day in a Life of a Frontliner. Wood Collage. 20in x 24in
