LIGHTSTAGE GALLERY PRESENTS “ORIGIN”, A SOLO EXHIBITION BY FRENCH ARTIST OPHELIA JACARINI EXPLORING VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE ASPECTS OF THE HUMAN FORM, HER ENDURING INSPIRATION FROM INDIA, AND THE INEXTRICABLE VITALITY OF MOVEMENT INFORMING BEING:  

LIGHTSTAGE Gallery is pleased to present “ORIGIN”, a solo exhibition by French-born and Hong Kong-based artist Ophelia Jacarini opening 23 February through 3 March 2017 at LIGHTSTAGE Gallery on 218 Hollywood Road.

The exhibition includes two series of paintings completed 2014 – 2017, organism and subconscient, as well as a large-scale installation comprising two works on fabric the artist painted earlier in February during her in-studio show “ATELIER OPHELIA”. Curated by gallery director Kalina King, “ORIGIN” marks Ophelia’s debut exhibition and first formal art presentation in Hong Kong however established she may be in other spheres of dance and fashion design.

“ORIGIN” is a distillation of her enquiries into the seeds of humanity and visualization of birth and biological creation, the complex relationship between our active mind, our subconscious understanding and our physical bodies in movement, the daunting multiplicity of ways to express the life-force of an organism. Ophelia wields a colourful palette of vivid pinks, oranges and blues and an intimacy with the language of human form and movement to challenge the influence of societal judgements on our perception. Drawn and painted free-hand, her visual works share a practiced looseness and vitality with integrity born of the undoubtable, indelible and ethereal influence of Ophelia’s classical ballet upbringing. Her brushstrokes dance with the cryptic power of kinetic energy, as practiced in her own body and drawn by keen observation of the carriage in others. 

“ORIGIN’ moreover cues the personal importance attributed to Ophelia’s origination points in Asia, the watershed of her artistic beginnings. For ORIGIN is inextricably tied to India, whose land first welcomed Ophelia’s feet to Asia in 2013, whose people and energetic vitality captured and has held Ophelia’s heart and interest, and whose vibrant colours, pigments and textures have shaped the visual lexicon of this portfolio of works.