Collection: Kaharian

From Here To Sunday presents

Irene Feleo: Kaharian
A Solo Exhibition

Curated by Raymond Hwang

September 9 - October 15

With her debut solo exhibition Kaharian at From Here To Sunday, Irene Feleo creates an environment that welcomes viewers into her mind by introducing her visual language in multiple mediums. Along with curator Ray Hwang, she will be transforming the space into a vignette of what she imagines her “kaharian” to look like. Kaharian, meaning “kingdom” in Tagalog, is a nod to Irene’s Filipino family and roots. Her kingdom unfolds with the iconography and symbolism that are ever present throughout her work. Fragmented paintings act as a meditation on the symbols she constantly returns to: blooming and wilting flowers to show the passing of time; a butterfly to reflect the shedding of old skin. By fracturing the lines of the familiar, she hopes to expand the form these elements take and in turn, breathe new life into the stories within them. The arrangement of works with various painted surfaces, drawings, and three-dimensional objects of personal significance act like a walk-in cabinet of curiosities in which the viewer can only guess at the relation among them. 

In this room, things feel at once familiar, yet not. They feel like they can exist in the digital realm in which we spend so much of our lives, yet are firmly grounded in our physical reality through the careful handmade touch that is immediately apparent. In concert with one another, Irene’s orchestration of her works generously reveal her interest in the strange, folkloric topography that makes up her inner world, and she welcomes you to be a part of it.

Irene Feleo (b.1989) is a Filipino Australian artist currently residing in Brooklyn, NY.  Her art practice gravitates towards the seething and strange; working across the mediums of painting, writing and digital media.  She is fascinated with the visual concept of a “glitch”, the fragmented rippling of an object's form or function. Her art plays with bringing this concept to life in handmade renderings, where she finds comfort in the pushing and pulling of lines as they dance between familiar and abstract spaces. Throughout this practice, Irene references iconography often found in tattoo art, folklore and superstition to weave her own mythology and deepen her personal association with these symbols and the narratives they contain. Her work has been screened and exhibited in Melbourne, Sydney, Berlin, and New York. This is her first solo show in NY.