Anna de Leon's canvases are imbued with a certain softness and delicate pauses that are marked by symbols, pregnant with meaning. They represent narratives that are open to interpretation, taking their viewers into a quiet world heady with sweetness and whimsy.

​In Let’s Stay Together (2016), Anna presents her audience with two origami birds that have seemingly paused in flight. Each one of them is connected to a string that holds them up in mid-air. On a horizontal line above these strings are pieces of aluminum that have been pierced into the canvas, functioning as the warp through which the strings are woven. Her symbols come in twos. Accompanying the origami birds in this work are a pair of dragonflies and a pair of feathers. They are all presented against a backdrop of midnight blue, and white. In her paintings, as in this piece, she presents moments for the audience to reflect and pause, provided in the negative spaces that allow her art to breathe, ask poignant questions, and even give an opportunity for the viewer to yearn for the coupling that is often represented in her symbolism.

Armed with an interior design degree, earned from the University of Santo Tomas, Anna’s pieces are purposely designed to express materiality. Pounded aluminum wires, pieces of narra wood, and even paint brushes make up her visual vocabulary. She combines these with a rustic approach to her canvases, blending subtle colors with each other, using neutrals, blues and grays.

​Having joined the Saturday Group of Artists in the year 2000, serving as its President from 2008-2010, Anna is joined with her colleagues in the Saturday Group for this exhibition. Famous for their “interaction paintings” wherein two or a few artists combine their individual styles and work on a canvas, the Saturday Group continues in this tradition, hosted by each ofAnna’s canvases where she provides the background.

In this spirit of collaboration and kinship, Anna continues in her tradition of naming each of her pieces after love songs, or phrases that have an affiliation with music. In Time After Time (2016), she shares her canvas with Omi Reyes, known for his mixed media work and affinity with the Steampunk genre, while in Serenade (2016) and Astrud (2016), Roel Obemio and Francis Nacion, respectively, contribute to the completion of the work. Anna’s long-time friend and current Saturday Group of Artists President, Migs Villanueva, provides the main subject for Catch (2016). In all of these interaction pieces, each artist is honored with sharing their own creative styles and symbols with Anna’s own: quail eggs, feathers and dragonflies. The representation of strings populates Anna’s work, perhaps to show a connection between each individual creating the art or viewing it. In the Saturday Group of Artists, the string of friendship and a common love for art connect its members, including Anna. They are bound to share the canvas, much like they partake in their real life camaraderie.

For more information on the exhibition, you may email info@charliesartgallery.com.

Excerpts by Anna Francesca Rosete