Provenance: West Gallery

ABOUT THE WORK

Such are the words to describe Raffy Napay’s thread designs, of a hollow block wall. A soft and mellow subtlety replaces the expected hardness of the “wall” surface image. Raffy Napay received the coveted International “Lorenzo il Magnifico” Award for Textile Art from Florence Biennale in 2015. For him to reach this apex, Napay has reached degrees of intricacy and refinement unequalled by any in the weaving arts. During his collegiate days as a Fine Arts: Advertising student in Eulogio Amang Rodriguez Institute of Science and Technology (EARIST), Napay’s preferred medium was paint — until he decided to use thread. The use of thread and textiles in his work was introduced by his mother who is a seamstress. Thus for Napay these days, each unique works is its own definition of his art cum crafts its own recognition that thread totally differs from paint as in oil paint. In this diptych bold geometric areas are defined as dictated by the loom and by the materials. The tell-tale presence of a vine or plant softens the “hard” hollow block surface. Eventually, Napay learned to sew by hand and a machine. He used both methods to come up with intrciate, simple, and captivating artworks vis-à-vis “scale-played” subjects and details of each. In 2013, Napay’s “Thread Experience” won an award in an art contest. The work honors his seamstress mother. According to The Philippine Daily Inquirer, he took time to show “sources of emotion, memory, nostalgia and creativity”. Winning the award led him to Liverpool Hope University in the United Kingdom in 2014. As a resident, he explored the art scene as he made use of “spaces of homeliness”. He saw these things as sanctuaries for mutualism in terms of growth and human connections. He capped off his Liverpool residency with an exhibit entitled “Hope Springs." Napay also received another residency grant by Artesan Gallery in Singapore