“Abstraction is actually simplification. But in my case, I tend to complicate it, throwing various issues into my work, with the result that the real meaning of abstraction is transformed.”

The 17 years that Veneracion has put into his art are reflected in the way he works. He can let himself go, but experience and knowledge keep him within the bounds of discipline.

Veneracion further describes his approach as a combination of “various issues,” which he says are “veils” concealing the core of his works.

He likens artistic expression to the recollection of a dream. “It’s like when you have a dream and you start recalling that dream while relating it to another person. In relating this dream, you tend to edit parts of the original dream unconsciously or consciously. In art this can be compared to how an artist applies aesthetics to a message he would like to impart.”

In other words, the physical characteristics of a painting – medium, technique, symbolism, color – can be regarded as the artist’s tools of editing. But there are risks, such as when the essence of a work is obscured by a too heavy use of personal symbolism.

Says Veneracion: “I’ve tried working from raw emotion, but the next day when I look at the outcome I am usually not happy with what I see.”

“Painted Objects” covers a wide range of social and personal issues. Veneracion comments on society’s love for dressing in a piece called “Everybody Loves Haute Couture.” Here a realistic sketch of a fashion model is put in the middle of a canvas. Around her are folds of canvas that could stand for clothing material.

A large screen made of bamboo slats, painted in strong, wild strokes of color that hint at a figure wearing a gas mask, evokes the anxiety brought by the Gulf war.

An ink blot (as in a Rorschach test) on a charming piece of handmade paper with little fern leaves worked into it is entitled “Your Sanity Test.”

In the title work “Painted Objects” we find several pieces of black-painted junk wood from which hangs a picture with a drawing of a human face spilling out onto the frame. The work is like an “editorial” on art showing that it doesn’t necessarily have to be confined within a frame.

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