Voices
signed and dated 1998 (lower left and verso)
acrylic modeling paste on canvas
48" x 84" (122 cm x 213 cm)

PROVENANCEAcquired directly from the artist by the present owner


A Lao Masterpiece by LEOVINO MA. GARCIAAfirst rule in appreciating an abstract (especially a minimalist Lao) painting is never to expect a window into some visible reality. Lao gives you what you do not see at first view. It doubly becomes ironic when the title given is “View”. You can be certain that it is not an objective view, much less an objectified view. In the case of the painting “Voices”, we are already provided with a clue. It does not immediately refer to the sense of sight but to another sense—the sense of hearing. The artist is not first a visionary but an explorer—an embodied or incarnate spirit who is a being-in-the world. With an inspired hand, the artist applies a few strokes to materialize not a vision of objects. If we are to follow the French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty, the artist is an explorer who beckons us to enter a world more real than our everyday world—a world where we not only see but wander around to touch, hear, smell, and taste fleeting experiences of quiet energy that calm and invigorate us.