Exhibited: Ayala Museum’s Chairs, an exhibition by 28 artists, September 1991

Literature: Mendoza, Ivy Lisa F., Manila Bulletin, “A Chair Is A Chair Is A Chair”

ABOUT THE WORK

Enriquez popularized a colorful Expressionist style. She filled her canvasses with vignettes of images which look like scenes of places or events juxtaposed side by side almost like a "quilt" of images which are used to tell a story. Interiors of houses and still life painted in her thick Expressionistic brush strokes are also subjects "Keka" is known for. She is also popular for works with her mentor in UP Fine Arts, Roberto Chabet, who was one of the pioneers of conceptual art in the Philippines. Here, in her sculptural installation, "Eggo", Enriquez's training in conceptual art under Chabet is evident. The chair, a furniture object is used as a metaphor for power. This chair is Spanish colonial in style and almost looks like a throne or a seat of a powerful person. The chair symbolizes power, governance, law and order, the rules of convention — and the need to conform. The eggs sit on the seat of the chair like a group of Humpty Dumptys on an assembly line save for one robin blue egg right smack in the middle. In the quest for success and the climb up to power, people are like these eggs who are pressured to be like everyone else in order to be accepted and to be allowed to share in that power. It is a challenge to assert one's beliefs and dissenting opinions because one risks being rejected by the herd. The light blue color of the egg is the color of peace. One gains freedom and attains inner peace only when one can finally muster the courage to be true to one's self and to assert one's uniqueness. The choice to be authentic strengthens one’s self esteem and develops a healthy ego.