Rellie Liwag is a two-pronged artist: she has found her voice through years of quiet persistence, yet she has bloomed — after a long transformation — before the public eye.

A visual artist with a faithful devotion to her craft, Rellie often confidentially shared she had always wanted to pursue art. However, she struggled with believing in herself!

Visits to museums turned her teary-eyed, most specially in the presence of Vincent Van Gogh, whose passion and insistence on truth she felt so deeply. This sentiment lingered on through the years.

That same longing for authenticity now defines her upcoming solo exhibition, Deep in My Heart (A Metamorphosis), set to open on Saturday, 6 December at ArtistSpace under the auspices of the Ayala Foundation.

The title was not chosen lightly. For Rellie, music has long been part of her inner world. Jose Mari Chan’s classic “Deep in My Heart” instilled a kind of tenderness which fed her imagination. His brilliance as a composer simply lifted her into a natural high.

Part of the exhibit title, A Metamorphosis, spoke of transformation, symbolized by the butterfly she often admired — rising from a cocoon, emerging into full color. It mirrored her own evolution as she continued to adapt various art movements and styles.

“I am happy in the constant discovery of myself and my art — a certain stroke, a certain color, you finally get it and it feels great — you become more mature, more confident,” she eagerly declared.

Her artistic development was influenced by years of disciplined study. As a resident of the United States for nearly two decades, she was mentored by respected masters such as Andi Cubi, Gig de Pio, Harumichi Sakata, and later, with Robert Cenedella of the Art Students League of New York.

She returned for further studies at the National Academy School of Fine Arts in New York, followed by workshops with Daniel Greene, plus Nelson Shanks of Studio Incamminati in Philadelphia. This was followed by a plein-air immersion in Burgundy, France with Costa Vavagiakis.

In 2019, she pursued intensive training at the Florence Academy of Art in Italy led by Igor Naskalov, an experience that would refine her discipline and visual language even more.

Through all this, she continued to express herself through her strokes, colors, and rituals in the studio. When challenges arose, she turned to art and found beauty. “There is so much beauty around us. We just have to find it. My life is a canvas filled with bright, happy colors,” she confided in her artist statement.

Her forthcoming collection features works which map her artistic shifts. Bloom, rendered in mixed media, captures the emergence of a white flower through soft layered strokes. In contrast, Confined Prism uses oil to explore tension within blocky, angular structures. Pieces such as Drifting Thoughts reveal her growing fascination with the abstract, while Metamorphosis serves as the exhibition’s symbolic heart — with a butterfly as the crowning piece.

Yet Rellie has never lost her grounding in representation. Ethnic Woman, her homage to the Philippine National Artist for Visual Arts Carlos “Botong” Francisco, marries reverence with a contemporary hand.

Meanwhile, her portraits Karyl and Michelle retain the sensitivity she cultivated early in her career.

The landscapes Bow Bridge (Central Park), Hamptons, and Brooklyn Botanical Garden recall the time she spent overseas, observing how light behaved in different cities and seasons.

Her Replica of the Young Rembrandt is a callback to control, of how her classical roots continue to influence her.

All these pieces, though different in approach, represent Rellie’s artistic journey through the decades — and what a journey it has been, thus far!

¡Enhorabuena, Rellie Liwag!

Deep in My Heart (A Metamorphosis) runs until 21 December at ArtistSpace at the Ayala Museum Annex in Makati City.